With Puma stake, China’s Anta seeks to enter the arena with Nike and Adidas

Anta Sports, China’s top sportswear company, has leaped onto the international stage with an acquisition-driven global portfolio, including last week’s $1.8 billion deal for a 29 per cent stake in Germany’s Puma.

The company, known at home for offering solid, good-value sportswear that sells for roughly a third of the price of Nike’s attire, has spent more than a decade assembling a portfolio of brands spanning premium outdoor gear, women’s activewear, sneakers and tennis equipment with a number of price points.

As of 2025, Anta – based in southeastern Fujian province – commanded 23 per cent of China’s sportswear market, surpassing both Nike and Adidas. The company has a market valuation of about $28 billion, ranking third globally, but founder and Chairman Ding Shizong has made it clear he wants more.

“Mr Ding wants Anta to be the biggest sportswear conglomerate in the world and over the past decade he’s been taking step-by-step in that direction,” said Morningstar analyst Ivan Su.

A person with knowledge of Anta’s acquisition strategy said the Puma deal is unlikely to be Anta’s last.

“Anta is quite aggressive for a Chinese company and quite ambitious,” said the person, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media. “If opportunities arise, they won’t hesitate.”

Anta Sports did not respond to a request for comment.

Anta’s origin story is well known in China. In 1986, Ding, a high-school dropout from a small town in Fujian province, borrowed 10,000 yuan ($1,441) from his dad to buy 600 pairs of shoes from a relative’s factory. After quickly selling them in Beijing, he returned home and reinvested the profits in a small workshop.

Initially, Ding’s factory focused on contract manufacturing for international brands. But he soon realised that building his own label would lead to far higher margins. He launched the Anta brand in 1991.

Since then, Ding has repeatedly pushed back against suggestions that he is trying to create “the Nike of China.”

He says he wants to build “the Anta of the world.”

By the early 2000s, that ambition faced its toughest test. A wave of global sportswear giants surged into China, squeezing local players like Anta and domestic rival Li Ning.

The two companies eventually adopted sharply different strategies.

Li Ning, founded in 1990 by the Olympic gymnastics champion of the same name, began investing heavily in fashion-led design and global runway appearances, including shows in New York and Paris. The strategy delivered a burst of momentum, but the brand has since struggled as Chinese consumers cut their discretionary spending as the economy weakened.

Anta chose a different path – supplementing its mass-market base by acquiring a range of brands. Today, its portfolio includes Anta, streetwear label Fila in China and parts of Southeast Asia, skiwear brand Descente, South Korean outdoor pioneer Kolon Sport, women’s brand MAIA Active and outdoor-focused Jack Wolfskin.

The company’s biggest leap came in 2018, when it led a consortium to buy Amer Sports for $6.29 billion. Anta remains Amer’s largest shareholder after the group re-listed in early 2024. Amer’s stable includes the outdoor brands Arc’teryx and Salomon as well as Wilson, which makes equipment for tennis, football and other sports. They have all surged in popularity globally – and in China.

Anta’s track record with Amer’s brands, particularly in China, offers a guide to what it hopes to achieve with Puma.

In the past several years, Amer has posted consistent 40 per cent-plus annual growth in Greater China. Much of that expansion has been driven by significant investment in premium store openings and direct-to-consumer channels.

As of early 2025, Arc’teryx operated 176 stores worldwide, including 75 stores and 20 outlets in Greater China.

“Arc’teryx and Salomon are some of the best-run brands in China,” said Shaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research Group. “Anta understands the local market and reshaped the brand image to meet Chinese consumer needs.”

Puma, which generates only about 7 per cent of its total revenue from China – far less than Nike or Adidas – is widely viewed as underpenetrated in the world’s second-largest consumer market.

“The Puma business in China has been mismanaged for many years,” said Morningstar’s Su. “With Anta coming in, I expect more investment in larger, better stores that can elevate the brand image.”

With the Puma deal, Anta gains what its global portfolio lacks: a mass-market, globally recognised brand with strong resonance in the U.S. and Europe.

Anta has already begun pushing its own brand overseas. With roughly 13,000 Anta stores in China, analysts say the domestic market is near saturation. The company has identified Southeast Asia as an area of expansion – targeting 1,000 new-store openings by 2028 – and next week is set to open a flagship shop in Beverly Hills.

Beyond that, the Anta brand has limits as to how far it can go outside Asia.

“For a Chinese brand like Anta to gain recognition in the U.S., it’s very, very difficult,” Su said. “To realise Mr Ding’s ambition of becoming the world’s largest sportswear group, you need the U.S. and Europe. Those are the key missing pieces that Puma can help them with.”