Sports apparel major Anta expands confidently, taking on the likes of Nike
Private companies are becoming more active in overseas mergers and acquisitions, and China should finalize related laws and regulations to support such corporate activity, according to Ding Shizhong, chairman and CEO of Anta Sports Products Ltd, China’s largest athletics apparel company.
Ding made that plea during the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, in Beijing.
Overseas M&A activity plays an important role in the company’s global plan, he said. “Anta wants to be a world-class company, so going global is an important strategy for us. We’ll continue looking for M&A opportunities and find more opportunities to go global.”
Established in 1991 in Jinjiang, Fujian province, Anta has been focused on the domestic market for a long time. But since 2015, Ding decided to reposition Anta and look overseas.
The aim was to develop Anta from a single-brand company into a multi-brand company, to meet with the diverse demands of Chinese and overseas markets, and to compete with the most famous global brands on the world stage.
Anta’s total revenue reached 13.35 billion yuan ($1.93 billion) in 2016, up 20 percent year-on-year. The net profit was about 2.39 billion yuan, up almost 17 percent.
Ding said the most difficult aspect of globalization is to increase brand awareness among overseas consumers.
For the past few years, the company has been looking for brand that could complement its own brand Anta, which targets the mass consumer market.
This February, Anta announced that its subsidiary Anko will form a joint venture with Kolon Sport, an outdoor brands from South Korea. Before that, it acquired the nearly century-old Italian premium sportswear brand Fila in 2009, to expand in the highend market.
And in 2016, it formed a joint venture with Japanese brand Descente Ltd.
“Many overseas brands have a long history and have developed complete categories. But China lags in the winter sports industry, especially in equip-