Capital News

adidas AG: Reebok to walk on its own Feet again

This is the news adidas shareholders have long been waiting for: adidas finally sold its` Reebok brake block. And even at an unexpectedly decent price.

On August 12th, adidas announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Reebok to Authentic Brands Group (ABG) for a total consideration of up to € 2.1 billion, with the majority to be paid in cash at closing and the rest comprised of deferred and contingent consideration. Despite the unfortunate performance of the Reebok in recent years, adidas expressed that the company "has been a valued part of adidas, and we are grateful for the contributions the brand and the team behind it have made to our company."

Given Reebok's mediocre performance since its acquisition in 2006, not all adidas shareholders have shared this view. As part of a strategic reorientation, adidas has assessed strategic alternatives for Reebok with a focus on ensuring both adidas and Reebok would be well positioned for sustainable growth earlier this year. The result was the initiation of a formal process to divest Reebok, which ultimately led to the sale. After all, with a total consideration of up to 2.1 bn euros, adidas regained a substantial part of the purchase price of around 3.8 billion USD it paid in 2006.

K + S AG: Stick and Carrot for Shareholders

K + S shareholders are reluctant to remember the news flow in November 2020. At the time, the company suffered an impairment loss of approx. 2 billion EUR. But just a month later there was good news to be heard. K + S and a subsidiary of REMONDIS decided to bundle their waste management activities in a new joint venture, REKS GmbH & Co. KG, in which both companies shall be equal partners with 50 percent participation each. The transaction is supposed to enable K + S to realize a significant book gain and receive a cash inflow of about 90 million EUR.

Initially, the closing of this transaction was expected in the Summer 2021. Since this did not materialize so far, K + S supplied an update in October.

Unfortunately, the good news was overlooked by many market participants, since the company pleased the shareholders with news about a raised forecast for the operating result for 2021 at the same time. I am happy to repeat it at this point: the one-off gain from the REKS transaction is expected to be approx. 200 million EUR. The only catch is that it has yet to be realized, since the review of the transaction by the Federal Cartel Office is still ongoing.

This means that we will hear more good news from K + S on this matter later.

Aareal Bank AG: Open-ended Discussions with financial Investors about an Acquisition of a majority Interest

For a long time, Aareal Bank impressed investors with its solid performance. But that is history for a long time, while the past few months have been marked by fierce arguments with a critical investor.

Such processes not only cost strength. Occasionally they also open up new strategic perspectives, and at the same time they may call opportunistic investors onto the scene, which also might have happened here.

Aareal confirmed in October that its Management Board has entered talks about a potential acquisition of a majority interest in the bank by a group of financial investors led by Centerbridge and TowerBrook, and with participation of Advent, after having been approached by them with the aim of exploring potential strategic opportunities for the bank. In this context, these investors have raised the possibility of giving a public offer for an indicative price of 29.00 EUR per share.