Former Boots CEO seals merger deal to form Sportscape Group
The deal creates a business with more than €200m (£172m) sales across France, UK, Germany and 10 other countries.
Bridgepoint Development Capital, and Bd-capital has announced its merger of Private Sport Shop and SportPursuit, to form Sportscape Group, an e-commerce platform and community focused on sports and outdoor retail.
Sportscape will retail brands such as Berghaus, Canterbury and Garmin at discounted prices, with a focus on snowsports and cycling.
The merger creates a distribution channel for more than 2,500 existing brand partners with access to an audience of over 24m sports and outdoor enthusiasts.
The deal creates a business with more than €200m (£172m) sales across France, UK, Germany and 10 other countries.
The group’s shared vision is to “create Europe’s leading sports and outdoor hub: delivering daily inspiration, unbeatable deals, amazing brands and engaging content for sports and outdoor enthusiasts across Europe and beyond”.
Sportscape Group will be led by Sébastien Rohart, the current CEO of Private Sport Shop. He will be supported by the current executives from both companies, with Adam Pikett, current CEO and co-founder of SportPursuit, taking up the role of chief vision officer, overseeing the strategy of the group.
Luke Pikett, managing director and co-founder of SportPursuit and Yannick Leouffre, managing director of Private Sport Shop, will continue to lead both businesses.
Rohart said: “I am excited to become the CEO of Sportscape Group. The combination creates a European leader with a unique proposition for our customers and brand partners alike.
“In particular, the combination of Private Sport Shop’s huge sport coverage and social media presence with SportPursuit’s technology and data expertise creates significant additional growth opportunities, over and above what we could have created individually.”
Pikett added: “At SportPursuit, we have known and admired the Private Sport Shop team for many years. As a co-founder of SportPursuit it is super exciting to have this opportunity to bring the two businesses together to create something special.
Jean-Baptiste Salvin, director at Bridgepoint Development Capital, said: “We are excited to be working with bd-capital to support the combination of our two investments. We have created fantastic alignment between our organisations and look forward to supporting the combined group as we move forward together.”
Andrey Russinov, director at bd-capital said: “We are focused on partnership at bd-capital, and this merger creates both a partnership between two operational companies and two investors.
“The combination of SportPursuit and Private Sport Shop substantially increases the growth potential of both, and we are excited to support that growth alongside Bridgepoint and management.”
Private Sport Shop and SportPursuit executed the transaction in close partnership with advisory teams from PwC (financial and tax), Stephenson Harwood (legal), Mayer Brown (legal), Goodwin Procter (legal), Clipperton (advisory) and HWF Partners (W&I insurance).
