LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae and Eversheds have scooped roles on the sale of Adidas’s winter sports equipment business Salomon to Finnish company Amer.
The deal, which closed earlier this month, saw LeBoeuf pick up a new instruction from Amer in its biggest European M&A transaction to date. Lead partner John LeMaster had previously worked with general counsel Heikki Koponen, but never before for Amer.
As Salomon is a French business, based in Annecy in the Alps, LeBoeuf’s Paris office was also heavily involved in the deal. Finnish law advice was provided by Forum Partners.
On the other side of the transaction, Eversheds was renewing an older relationship with Adidas following the appointment of new general counsel Frank Dassler. London-based partners Robert Pitcher and Sally Shorthose worked alongside Thomas Sacher at German independent Beiten Burkhardt and Alexis Poinsard of French giant Fidal.
The E480m (£330m) transaction was completed in a short timeframe of just 10 weeks, and makes Amer – which also owns tennis and golf brand Wilson – the biggest European sports equipment manufacturer. It is subject to competition authority approval.
Pitcher told The Lawyer: “It’s great fun when you’re looking at a premium brand – something you can feel and understand.”
