The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared the acquisition of SportScheck GmbH, Munich, by Cisalfa Sport S.p.A., Rome, Italy.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The takeover will lead to a significant consolidation among sports and outdoor retailers in Germany. Sport Voswinkel and SportScheck both have a prominent presence in many German city centres. However, the proposed merger does not give rise to competition concerns. When looking at brick-and-mortar retail in isolation, the merger parties will achieve fairly high market shares in some submarkets. However, strong brick-and-mortar competitors and online retail will provide sufficient competitive pressure. At the national level Sport Voswinkel’s and SportScheck’s joint market shares are considerably smaller.”

Cisalfa has so far mainly been active in the Italian sport and outdoor retail sector. In December 2023 Cisalfa acquired Sport Voswinkel GmbH, entering the German market for the first time. Sport Voswinkel has a total of 50 stores in Germany. SportScheck is a sports retailer operating 33 stores and an online shop. It has been part of the Signa Group, which has now entered insolvency proceedings.

At the national level Cisalfa’s and SportScheck’s joint market shares in all segments of sports and outdoor retail are unproblematic. This is the case both when looking at brick-and-mortar retail in isolation and when including online retail. Other large retailers include, in particular, Decathlon, Amazon and sports goods manufacturers active in the retail sector.

In some regions the merger parties will achieve a strong position in brick-and-mortar sports and outdoor retail, for example in Hannover, Kassel, Leipzig and Münster. However, there are also other, large competitors such as Decathlon or JD Sports in these regions. Strong competition is also exercised by sports retailers that are members of the Intersport and Sport 2000 buying groups.

The investigations have shown that online retail is of great significance in sports and outdoor retail. The companies surveyed stated that online sales accounted for a major percentage of their total turnover. According to the brick-and-mortar retailers surveyed, brick-and-mortar retail experiences strong competitive pressure from online retail.