Foot Locker completes acquisition of U.S. footwear retailer Eurostar; names COO

Foot Locker has added another brand to its portfolio.

The specialty athletic retailer has completed its acquisition of Eurostar, or WSS, for $750 million in cash. An athletic footwear and apparel retailer that primarily operates on the West Coast, WSS operates 93 off-mall stores in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada and serves a largely Hispanic consumer base in underserved communities. It generated approximately $425 million in revenue in its fiscal year 2020.

WSS will maintain its name, operating as a new brand within Foot Locker's portfolio. In connection with the completion of the acquisition, Foot Locker appointed Anthony Aversa as COO of WSS, effective immediately.

Aversa will report directly to Rick Mina, senior VP and general Manager of WSS, and oversee the brand's market planning, real estate, and customer experience functions. Aversa was previously the VP customer experience of Foot Locker North America.

“WSS brings an expanded and differentiated customer base rooted in the rapidly growing Hispanic community, diversifies and enhances our product mix, and strengthens our footprint with a 100% off-mall store fleet located in key markets,” said Richard Johnson, chairman and CEO, Foot Locker. “We look forward to building on WSS' deep community connections, as we accelerate its growth and drive significant additional long-term value for our shareholders."

In early August, Foot Locker announced it had signed a deal to acquire WSS as well as the Atmos brand, a digitally-led, hot streetwear brand based in Japan. Atmos has 49 stores, with 39 in its home country. 

As previously announced, Foot Locker expects WSS to generate low double-digit sales growth annually and low double-digits to mid-teens EBITDA margins over the next five years and be accretive to EPS in fiscal year 2021. The company anticipates that the acquisitions of WSS and Atmos combined will be accretive to EPS in the range of $0.44 to $0.48 per share in 2022. 

Evercore served as financial advisor to Foot Locker, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as its legal advisor. RW Baird served as financial advisor to WSS, and Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP served as its legal advisor.

Foot Locker’s portfolio of includes Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Eastbay, WSS, Footaction and Sidestep. It has approximately 3,000 retail stores in 27 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand as well as websites and mobile apps.

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