PPR Group, parent company of Gucci, has offered $7.1 billion for Puma, the company that manufactures basically all of my footwear. PPR is publicly-traded in France, while Puma trades in Germany. PPR said that its offer was "firm and final," but the market seemed to disagree. Puma shares traded slightly above the offer price, indicating that many observers believe that a bidding war will ensue. One prime suspect: Nike.
An acquisition of Puma might make sense for Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE). While Nike has been hugely successful in the sports apparel market, it has not even come close to duplicating Puma's success as a cross-over, luxury brand for the fashion-conscious. Think of Nike as Pete Rose: Very adept at sports, but widely seen as a bum outside of baseball. Puma is more like David Beckham: Amazingly athletic, in addition to being urbane and sophisticated (and married to the coolest of the Spice Girls).
Nike is currently sporting very little in the way of debt, and could probably afford to take on Puma. The question is, given the company's history of lackluster acquisitions, do they want to?
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