Finance
Puma surges after report CVC, Authentic Brand preparing takeover bid
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Puma shares surged over 11% after reports of a takeover bid by CVC and Authentic Brands, despite the Pinault family's denial of an active sales process.
(Reuters) - Two investors are preparing a takeover bid for German sportswear maker Puma, Manager Magazin reported on Wednesday, pushing its share price up more than 11%.
Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter and private equity firm CVC's German head Alex Dibelius have both expressed their interest in the 29% stake held by the Pinault family, paving the way for a potential bidding war, the German magazine reported.
A person close to the French family's holding company Artemis said there was no active sales process for its Puma stake despite interest from some parties and added that the German media report was "factually false".
Puma was the biggest gainer on Europe's STOXX 600 index, though the shares have halved in value this year.
Puma and CVC declined to comment on the report. Authentic Brands did not respond to requests for comment.
Reuters reported last week that Artemis will not sell its stake in Puma at its current market value and is not engaged in talks over a deal.
Salter's Authentic Brands is known for acquiring and revitalising distressed brands such as clothing chains Forever 21 and Aeropostale and bought Reebok from Adidas in 2021, beating off competition from rival suitor CVC.
Bloomberg reported in August that Artemis was sounding out potential buyers for its roughly $960 million Puma stake.
The Pinault family acquired the Puma stake from Kering in 2018 after the luxury goods group sold the shares to focus on its core business.
($1 = 0.8439 euros)
(Reporting by Linda Pasquini; Additional reporting by Danilo Masoni, Siddarth S, Anika Ross, Tassilo Hummel and Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Kirsten Donovan and David Goodman)
Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter and CVC's German head Alex Dibelius have both expressed interest in acquiring the 29% stake held by the Pinault family.
Puma's share price surged more than 11%, making it the biggest gainer on Europe's STOXX 600 index, although the shares have halved in value this year.
A person close to the Pinault family's holding company Artemis stated that there is no active sales process for its Puma stake despite the interest from some parties.
The Pinault family holds a stake in Puma valued at roughly $960 million.
Authentic Brands is known for acquiring and revitalizing distressed brands, including clothing chains like Forever 21 and Aeropostale, and it bought Reebok from Adidas in 2021.
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