JD Sports eyes acquisition of Go Outdoors

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Aug 22, 2016

High street retailer JD Sports is exploring a potential acquisition of rival chain Go Outdoors in a deal that would turn the company into the UK’s largest sports retailer.

According to Sky News, JD is among a number of bidders exploring offers for the outdoors retailer, which appointed KPMG to explore a sale in May.

Go Outdoors is UK's largest specialist retailer of camping equipment, tents, outdoor clothing and footwear. It operates 58 superstores across the UK and reported sales of over £200 million for the year ended January 2016.

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Based in Sheffield, the business is part-owned by private equity firm 3i. It plans to continue its aggressive store opening programme with new shops in large-out-of-town locations over the coming years.

Sky News said the auction for the business is expected to reach a conclusion by the end of the year.