On 21 October, Tom Beahon, co-founder of British sportswear brand Castore, told the Financial Times that the company is in talks with ANTA Sports (ASX: 02020) and LI NING (ASX: 02331) over a potential sale, with both Chinese sportswear groups having expressed acquisition interest, while also being in contact with several major American footwear and apparel brands. ANTA Sports declined to comment, while LI NING did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The deal is currently only at the stage of preliminary discussions, but the fact that two Chinese sporting goods giants are simultaneously eyeing the same target itself reflects the starkly different strategic demands of Chinese sportswear brands toward overseas assets in the current cycle.
Castore's credentials: A valuation of nearly £1 billion and a £40.8 million loss
Castore was founded in 2016, started by two Liverpool brothers with £40,000 raised by mortgaging their parents' property. Its core model is building brand awareness through sponsoring professional sports teams: Aston Villa, Newcastle, Bayer Leverkusen, and the McLaren F1 team have all been its partners. In 2023, Castore completed a £145 million funding round, pushing its valuation to approximately £950 million, with investors including tennis star Andy Murray and INEOS, owned by Manchester United owner Ratcliffe. But the sponsorship model is a double-edged sword. The more famous the team, the higher the cost of the kit contract, and large sportswear brands have a stronger scale advantage in bidding. In 2023, Aston Villa players publicly complained about the breathability of Castore kits, and the quality controversy一度 affected the brand's reputation. Financial data also confirms the pressure of this model: for the 18 months ending August 2025, Castore recorded revenue of £334.6 million and a pre-tax loss of £40.8 million. Beahon expects double-digit revenue growth this year, but the path to profitability is not clear. Early financial investors are seeking an exit. Beahon acknowledged that some investors wish to sell their stakes and realize returns, and the company has mandated JPMorgan to evaluate potential transactions, which could involve the sale of a majority or minority stake, and a strategic partnership has not been ruled out. The two founders hope to continue participating in the business, which means any acquirer would not be buying an asset that "can be reshaped at will," but rather a brand that requires co-governance with the founding team.
ANTA Sports' "puzzle": From FILA to Puma, and now Castore
ANTA Sports' interest in Castore continues its consistent M&A logic over the past decade or so: by acquiring assets and injecting Chinese operational capabilities, it builds a brand matrix covering different price segments and niche scenarios. From the acquisition of FILA's China business in 2009, to leading the acquisition of Amer Sports (Arc'teryx, Salomon) in 2019, to acquiring Jack Wolfskin for US$290 million in 2025, and completing the delivery of a 29.06% stake in Puma in October 2026, ANTA Sports has developed a mature "buy brands" playbook. FILA contributed approximately RMB 26.63 billion in revenue in 2024, making it one of the most important profit sources for ANTA Sports Group, which proves that ANTA Sports has the ability to scale overseas brands in the Chinese market. Castore's significance to ANTA Sports is likely not to recreate another FILA, but to fill in its puzzle in team sports equipment and European club channels. In ANTA Sports' existing brand matrix, professional sports are mainly concentrated in running, basketball, and cross-training, while in team sports such as football and motorsport that rely heavily on club and event sponsorships, it lacks a foothold with sufficient European local roots. Castore's sponsorship resource network can provide exactly this kind of touchpoint. But the problem is that Puma is a much larger transaction than any previous one, and integration is more difficult. If Castore follows closely, ANTA Sports' management bandwidth and capital expenditure will face pressure simultaneously. Whether being able to buy equals being able to manage well is the next question ANTA Sports needs to prove to the market.
LI NING's "breakout": A probe outside the single-brand framework
Unlike ANTA Sports' "puzzle" logic, LI NING's interest in Castore looks more like a boundary test outside its long-held single-brand strategy. LI NING has long adhered to a "single brand, multiple categories, multiple channels" approach at the company level, and its cooperation with the Curry brand in June 2026 also followed a path of brand co-building rather than acquisition. But this does not mean LI NING has no foothold in overseas assets: Li Ning himself, as non-executive chairman of LionRock Capital, facilitated Viva China's acquisition of Clarks, and Viva China also holds approximately 14.3% of LI NING shares. If Castore is ultimately acquired by LI NING the company, it would be a substantive breakthrough outside the "single brand" framework. LI NING's advantage lies in its professionalism in brand operations and depth in the basketball category, but its public experience in multi-brand integration is far less than that of ANTA Sports. If Viva China or other LI NING-related capital intervenes, it would be more of a capital-level arrangement rather than a direct strategic shift by the listed company. Either way, LI NING needs to answer a question it has not systematically answered before: whether it has the ability to operate an overseas asset that does not fully overlap with the main brand's tone and is currently loss-making.
From "buying brands" to "managing brands"
The sale of Castore has not yet been finalized, and neither ANTA Sports nor LI NING has made a formal offer. But the talks have already put a more fundamental proposition on the table: the overseas expansion of Chinese sportswear brands is moving from "buying brands" into the stage of "managing brands." ANTA Sports' M&A machine is still running at high speed, with the Puma delivery just completed and Castore negotiations already underway; LI NING is testing the boundary between single-brand and multi-brand. For a target like Castore, valued at nearly £1 billion but still loss-making, acquisition is only the first step. Who can truly turn the acquired asset into sustainable profit is more important than who signs the agreement first.
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