The European Commission (EC) Directorate-General (DG) for Competition approved the agreement, which had been announced back in September, in mid-January.
This agreement with the UK’s leading sports retailer foresees the merging of the Iberian Peninsula businesses of the JD Group and JD Sprinter with Sport Zone.
Sonae said last March it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), explaining that the Iberian sports group would be owned 50 percent by JD Group, 30 percent by Sonae and 20 percent by the JD Sprinter shareholder family.
With a joint turnover of more than €450 million estimated for 2016 and a chain of 287 stores (191 in Spain and 96 in Portugal), the group will be the Iberian Peninsula’s second largest sports retailer after Decathlon.