Frasers will enter into a long-term agreement with wholesaler Accent Group to launch Sports Direct across Australia and New Zealand in the next step in its international growth plans.
The 25-year partnership aims to rollout up to 100 Sports Direct stores across the region, which would boost the total number of Sports Direct stores by 14 per cent.
“Frasers and Accent see a significant opportunity to bring a new and exciting global sports business to the Australian and New Zealand markets,” Daniel Agostinelli, CEO of Accent Group said.
“The rollout has key brand support and will leverage the proven operating model, combined capability and global brand relationships enabled by the Frasers and Accent alliance,” Agostinelli added.
Brands available in the new stores will include Everlast, Slazenger and Karrimor, as well as Nike, Adidas and Under Armour.
Sports Direct currently has over 500 stores in the UK, as well as 170 stores in the EU and 35 in Malaysia.
As part of the partnership, Frasers raised its shareholding in Accent by 14.57 per cent, to 19.57 per cent.
The proceeds of the sale will be used to fund the initial roll-out of 50 Sports Direct stores in Australia and New Zealand.
Frasers said there was potential to “explore opportunities in further retail and business segments in future” with Accent.
“[The partnership] reaffirms our commitment to drive growth of the Sports Direct brand internationally and marks a significant step forward in our ambition to becoming the leading global sporting goods retailer,” Michael Murray, CEO of Frasers Group, said.
“Accent has an impressive, well-established platform with various sneaker concepts and a strong distribution of brands. We’re looking forward to expanding our partnership,” Murray added.
Accent Group has also acquired Frasers’ discount online fashion marketplace, MySale, consolidating Frasers’ Australian operations into Accent.
Shares in Frasers group rose by just over one per cent in early trades.
