Ashurst advised adidas Group on the acquisition of all shares in Runtastic GmbH. The purchase of the Austrian mobile fitness app maker is based on an enterprise value of €220 million. Signing and closing of the transaction have both taken place simultaneously on 5 August.

The acquisition of Runtastic is in line with the strategic business plan "creating the new" announced by adidas Group in March and gives the sporting goods manufacturers access to about 70 million Runtastic users. The company, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Linz, Austria, develops mobile apps for measuring sports and fitness data that the users can manage on fitness portal www.runtastic.com where they are also able to generate individual training plans.

The Ashurst team was led by Munich corporate partner Dr Thomas Sacher and Munich corporate counsel Volker Germann. Partner Heiko Penndorf and senior associate Felix Krüger (both Frankfurt) advised on tax law, partner Ute Zinsmeister and senior associate Dr Maria Held (both Munich)on anti-trust law. Teams led by Dr Thomas Sacher are advising adidas in connection with corporate transactions since many years.

The adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry, offering a broad portfolio of footwear, apparel and accessories for sport and lifestyle around the core brands adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade and Reebok-CCM Hockey. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the Group employs more than 53,000 people globally and generated sales amounting to €14.5 billion in 2014.