Go Sport: British Frasers hopes to win against Intersport

Faced with the competing offer of the British Frasers, Intersport is reviewing its copy. The group of sporting goods retailers has applied to take over Go Sport, joining forces with Chaussea and B & M, a discount brand. The brand owned by Hermione People & Brands, a subsidiary of Financière immobilière bordelaise, holding company of Bordeaux businessman Michel Ohayon, in the midst of turmoil, was placed in receivership by the Grenoble Commercial Court on 1^er FEBRUARY. It operates 204 stores and employs 2,160 people. The takeover offers relate to the scope of its 81 branches, which employ 1,800 people.

According to our information, the first offer from the Intersport Consortium, filed with the judicial administrators on Friday March 17, concerns 56 branches of the brand and 1,240 positions. In this “ambitious industrial project” that Jacky Rihouet, CEO of Intersport France, defended to AFP, on March 17, Intersport members joined forces to offer to take over 48, according to our information.

The scope of the Intersport offer is below that of the British Frasers. The group with 5.4 billion euros in turnover, founded by billionaire Mike Ashley in 1982, promises, for the time being, to take over 1,621 employees, including 117 employees at the Go Sport headquarters in Sassenage (Isère) . Its offer covers 74 stores.

Ambitious development plan

The takeover of number three on the French market, behind Decathlon and Intersport, would allow it to fuel an ambitious development plan: from here “three to five years”, it intends to increase its network to 150 stores in France, reach 745 million euros in turnover and employ 3,300 people there. According to the offer he presented, “within three to four years”, the Go Sport stores taken over would switch to the Sports Direct brand, which the group already operates in 715 stores worldwide. According to his advice in France, the store network would very soon be renovated at great expense to “an amount of 40 million euros of investment”. And an envelope of 150 million will be allocated to its expansion over the next three years, assures Frasers in its offer.

However, Sports Direct’s offensive on the hexagonal market is worrying. First because of its aggressive price positioning. The arrival of such a player is seen with a dim view by the manufacturers already confronted with the diktat of Decathlon. Ultra-dominant, the brand owned by the Mulliez family association, of which, according to Sport-guide.com, the turnover reached 14 billion euros worldwide in 2022, leaves little room for international sports brands. Its shelves are filled with clothing, shoes and equipment bearing its own brands, Quechua or Kipsta, for example, to the detriment of Rossignol, Lowe Alpine and other Le Coq Sportif.

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