Nike today announced it has reached an agreement to sell its Umbro brand to Iconix Brand Group for $225M. The transaction is expected to close by year's end. Nike earlier this year announced its intentions to divest of Umbro and Cole Haan. Nike President & CEO Mark Parker said, "Umbro has a great heritage, but ultimately, as our category strategy has evolved, we believe Nike Football can serve the needs of footballers both on and off the pitch” (THE DAILY). In Portland, Allan Brettman notes Nike “recently announced it had signed England's national soccer team to a footwear and apparel deal.” The announcement was “curious as Umbro had been the team's supplier for years and that partnership had been perceived as one of the selling points for Umbro.” Nike announced its Umbro purchase in October ‘07 and “completed it in 2008” for $565M in cash. The purchase was the “first and only acquisition for Parker" since his appointment in '06 Credit Suisse analyst Christian Buss noted when the Umbro and Cole Haan sales plans were announced that Umbro's revenue “declined about 19 percent” from $276M to $224M between ‘06 and ‘11 “because of its lesser role in the competition between Nike and Adidas soccer brands” (Portland OREGONIAN, 10/24).
STILL KICKIN' IT: In N.Y., Michael de la Merced writes selling Umbro “will not leave the company without a presence in the global soccer market: it still sells the Nike Football line of gear” (NYTIMES.com, 10/24). The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Shelly Banjo reports Iconix “owns or licenses more than two dozen brands,” including Ed Hardy and Candies, and “had bought Starter from Nike in 2007.” Nike over the past few years has been “unloading its smaller brands to focus on its namesake and Jordan brands” (WSJ.com, 10/24).
STILL A BUYER: Nike yesterday indicated that it “made a minority investment in LLamasoft Inc., a Michigan software company that makes supply chain and transportation design software.” In Portland, Erik Siemers noted the companies will “work together to co-develop products capable of making Nike's global supply chain operations more efficient and environmentally sustainable.” The terms of Nike's investment were not disclosed (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/23).
