Green light for JD Sports to acquire French sportswear retailer Courir
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Compass Lexecon assisted retailer JD Sports Fashion Plc Group (‘JD Sports’) during the merger review by the European Commission of its proposed acquisition of sports good retailer Groupe Courir SAS (‘Courir’). JD Sports and Courir’s store networks overlap in several EEA countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain). The European Commission cleared the transaction at the end of October 2024, subject to the divestment of all Courir stores in Portugal and several stores in certain areas of France to competitor Snipes.
Situation
In May 2023, sports goods retailer JD Sports proposed to purchase Courir in a €520 million deal. The parties are active in the retail supply of sport goods, with sales both offline and online. JD Sports reached out to Compass Lexecon to assist with the economic aspects of the transaction.
Our Role
A team from Compass Lexecon assisted JD Sports during a risk assessment, and then the pre-notification and Phase I proceedings by the European Commission. We advised on market definition, such as how to account for constraints that online sales impose on offline sales in retail shops, as well as defining the appropriate local geographic catchment areas. We assisted with responses to the Commission’s Requests for Information and analysed competitive effects of the transaction at national and local level for various product market definitions. We also provided economic advice regarding potential remedy packages in certain local markets in France and Portugal.
Outcome
To overcome the Commission’s potential competition concerns, the parties offered a remedy package that comprised the divestment of Courir’s stores in Portugal and a set of Courir stores in certain areas of France to Snipes. These remedies fully addressed the competition concerns identified by the Commission.
The team also assisted the parties and Snipes for the pre-notification and Phase 1 proceedings before the French Competition Authority related to the acquisition by Snipes of the Courir divested stores in France. The French competition authority gave its green light in November 2024.
The team
The Compass Lexecon team was led by Neil Dryden and David Sevy, including Antoine Victoria, Kristofer Hammarbäck, Alexandre Nouvel, Marion Chabrost, Fabrizio Vasselli, Natalia Losurdo, Shikha Bhaskar, Aric Chau, Geetanjali Rohilla, Giulia Campagna, Deiana Hristov, Claire Kraemer, Julie Lacointa, Juan Wences, and Jeanne Fleury.
They assisted JD Sports’ external legal counsel from Freshfields, led by Alastair Chapman, Simon Priddis and Jérôme Philippe, including Petya Katsarska, Luke Becker and Liam Oldham. They also worked closely together with a team from Bredin Prat, advising Courir, led by Pierre Honoré and Valérie Landes, and a team from Osborne Clarke, advising Snipes for the French proceedings, led by Alexandre Glatz.