HONG KONG / HERZOGENAURACH — Chinese sportswear groups Anta Sports Products and Li Ning are weighing potential bids for Puma SE, the struggling German sportswear maker, but early talks are constrained by a sharp drop in Puma’s market value and a resulting clash over price with its largest shareholder, Artemis, according to people familiar with the matter.

Anta, listed in Hong Kong, has hired an adviser to assess an offer and is considering partnering with a private equity firm, while rival Li Ning has held exploratory financing discussions with banks, according to reports first circulated via Bloomberg and cited by international and Hong Kong media. Li Ning, however, has publicly stressed that it has not engaged in “substantive” negotiations and remains focused on building its own brand.

The speculation comes after a bruising year for Puma. Its shares have fallen by roughly half, dragging its market capitalization toward the €2–2.5 billion range and making it one of the weakest performers on major European indices. The takeover chatter sent the stock sharply higher in Frankfurt trading, with gains reported between 13 and 22 percent in a single session as investors bet on a potential bidding contest.

Valuation Gap With Artemis

At the center of any deal stands Artemis, the privately held investment vehicle of France’s Pinault family, which controls Gucci owner Kering and holds about 29 percent of Puma.

People briefed on Artemis’s stance say the holding company does not view the stake as “strategic” but remains unwilling to sell at what it considers distressed levels after Puma’s share price collapse over the past two years. While Artemis has explored options for the holding — including quietly sounding out potential buyers earlier this year — it has also signaled that it will not accept current market valuations, creating a potential stalemate with would-be acquirers.

Any takeover attempt by Anta or Li Ning would therefore likely hinge on a substantial premium to Puma’s current share price, at a moment when the German group is still in the early stages of a turnaround plan under its new chief executive, Arthur Hoeld, including significant job cuts and efforts to revive demand.

Hong Kong: Strategic Expansion Narrative

In Hong Kong, where both Anta and Li Ning are listed, financial and business outlets have framed the talks as part of a broader push by Chinese athletic brands to secure established Western names and distribution networks. Coverage in the South China Morning Post and regional financial wires has emphasized Anta’s track record of acquiring and scaling foreign brands and highlighted the potential to gain instant scale in Europe through Puma’s global footprint.

Local derivatives and warrants commentary in Hong Kong has noted increased trading interest in Anta shares on the back of the rumors, with investor notes stressing both the strategic upside of a successful deal and the execution risk of absorbing a large, underperforming European asset just as global sportswear demand is softening.

Li Ning, which has seen modest share price gains this year, is being portrayed more cautiously in Hong Kong coverage: a potential participant in an auction, but one that publicly reiterates its priority is strengthening its own brand in China and abroad, rather than embarking on a complex, debt-financed mega-deal.

Germany: Heritage Concerns and Political Optics

German media reaction has blended deal speculation with unease over the prospect of another “Traditionsunternehmen” moving under non-European control. Tabloid and business outlets such as Bild have underscored that a sale would place yet another German heritage brand in “ausländische Hände” and have linked the story to a broader debate about the country’s industrial assets being picked off by foreign buyers.

Specialist trade publications and financial portals in Germany have focused on the immediate market impact — a sharp spike in Puma’s share price on takeover rumors — while questioning whether Artemis’s price expectations and Puma’s operational challenges make a near-term deal realistic. Analysts quoted in European financial media note that multiple rumored suitors, including Japan’s Asics, have already pushed back on reports of formal talks, reinforcing the sense that, for now, the interest remains exploratory.

For Berlin, the optics of another flagship sportswear group potentially moving under Chinese control could become politically sensitive, especially against a backdrop of ongoing debates about foreign ownership in strategic or high-profile consumer brands. So far, however, there has been no formal political intervention, and the matter is being treated as a commercial negotiation between Artemis, Puma and any prospective bidders.

High Stakes, Early Days

For Anta and Li Ning, Puma represents both an opportunity and a test: a chance to leapfrog into Europe’s top tier of sportswear brands, but at a moment when global demand is volatile and integration risks are high.

For Artemis, the brand is an increasingly non-core holding whose sale could help ease investor concerns over leverage — but only at the right price.

For Germany, the outcome may reignite a familiar question: how much foreign ownership is too much when it comes to companies woven into the country’s industrial and cultural fabric? (zai)