News and developments

bpv Huegel advises Zentrasport on the transfer of the operating business to ANWR GROUP

The company transfer also successfully secures the future of SPORT 2000 in Austria.

  Zentrasport Österreich e. Gen. sells its operating business to ANWR sports GmbH, a company of the ANWR Group. In particular, services for sports retailers were transferred. A team from bpv Huegel advised Zentrasport on this sale. The sale follows a successful reorganization procedure in the self-administration of Zentrasport, which bpv Huegel structured and supported.

The sale was an important step towards securing the future of the Austrian sports retailer and preserving jobs at the Austrian site in Ohlsdorf. The affiliated Austrian sports retailers will have a strong partner in the ANWR GROUP, and the expertise of the Austrian organisation based in Ohlsdorf will contribute to strengthening SPORT 2000's international presence, Holger Schwarting, member of the Zentrasport Management Board, is quoted as saying about the transaction.

ANWR GROUP eG, headquartered in Mainhausen (Hesse), is one of the highest-turnover retail cooperatives in Europe with a settlement volume of EUR 20.7 billion (2023) and a focus on the shoe, sporting, and leather goods trade. Around 20,000 medium-sized companies are affiliated to the ANWR Group via its two credit institutions - DZB BANK GmbH and AKTIVBANK AG. The group itself employs around 1,400 people.

Under the lead of Elke Napokoj (Corporate/M&A) and Bernhard Schatz (Insolvencies/Restructuring), Michaela Pelinka (Corporate/M&A) and Thomas Capek (Insolvencies/Restructuring) advised on the transaction in the bpv Huegel team.