(Reuters) – Shares in Puma jumped 10% on Wednesday, with traders pointing to a media report that two parties were preparing for a potential takeover of the German sportswear maker.
Germany’s Manager Magazin reported that two investors were ready to take the 29% stake held by the French billionaire Pinault family, paving the way for a potential takeover.
According to the magazine, Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter and CVC’s German head Alex Dibelius were the interested parties.
Puma and CVC declined to comment on the report.
Neither Authentic Brands nor a spokesperson for Artemis, the Pinault family’s holding that controls Gucci-owner Kering, responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.
A source close to Artemis told Reuters last week that it would not sell its stake in Puma at the current market value and was not engaged in talks over a deal.
In August, Bloomberg reported that Artemis was sounding out potential buyers for its roughly $960 million Puma stake.
The stock was the biggest gainer on Europe’s STOXX 600 index on Wednesday, although the shares have halved in value this year.
(Reporting by Linda Pasquini, additional reporting by Danilo Masoni, Siddarth S, Anika Ross, Tassilo Hummel and Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Kirsten Donovan)
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