Germany’s sports gear producer Adidas is planning to sell or separate its less successful brand, Reebok, 15 years after it acquired that US brand in order to compete with its powerful rival, Nike.

At end-February, Adidas announced that it decided to initiate a formal process aimed at divesting from Reebok. This is mainly a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that Reebok’s net sales fell by 7.0% in Q3 2020, to EUR 403 mn, after the drop of up to 44% in the quarter before that.

Banking sources estimate that Reebok’s market capitalization may reach cca EUR 1 bn.

Adidas took over Reebok for USD 3.8 bn in 2006, but the latter’s poor business results led to constant requests of investors in the German company to get rid of that brand.