SIGNA Sports United Acquires Online Tennis Company Midwest Sports and Enters the U.S. Market
BERLIN, Feb. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SIGNA Sports United, the global leading online sports commerce and tech platform, announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Midwest Sports, the Ohio-based online tennis retailer that ranks among the top three in the U.S. Market. The transaction, which is still subject to customary closing conditions, represents SIGNA Sports United's first substantial business operations in the United States and further strengthens its subsidiary Tennis-Point.
- With the acquisition of Midwest Sports, SIGNA Sports United - parent company of Tennis-Point - strengthens its position as the world's largest platform of tennis products and tennis experience.
- Tennis-Point is known for the central role it plays in the global tennis community - connecting customers, enthusiasts, coaches, players, clubs and brands across its platforms.
SIGNA Sports United utilises an unique technology platform to operate leading e-commerce brands in the Bike, Tennis, Outdoor and Team Sports verticals across Europe and now with the Midwest Sports acquisition in the U.S. The Company's Bike and Tennis segments have achieved global leadership positions. Simultaneously SIGNA Sports United has opened up its e-commerce technology and services to third parties and developed them into platforms, allowing for example brands to market directly to customers or enabling brick-and-mortar specialist shops to integrate and participate in e-commerce through click & collect and endless-aisle programs. SIGNA Sports United has grown profitably with a top line CAGR of c.30% over the last three years, achieving stand-alone gross merchandise volume of more than $1bn in FY 2020. It runs more than 80 web shops in 17 countries on its platform, reaching over 4m active customers a year.
The acquisition of Midwest Sports is highly complementary and serves as the entry point into the U.S. market for Tennis-Point, Signa Sports United's tennis platform. Tennis-Point plays a central role in the global tennis community connecting federations, clubs, brands and consumers. Founder and tennis enthusiast Christian Miele grew Tennis-Point from one small store - a story, which Midwest Sports Co-Founder and President Greg Wolf can relate to. Greg founded Midwest Sports together with his brother out of their passion for tennis and managed to create a leading tennis online retail company. Although only operating in the U.S., Midwest Sports is among the largest online tennis retailers in the world, one of the top three online tennis retailers in the U.S. and the official retail sponsor of the Western & Southern Open.
Tennis-Point, which is the exclusive global online retail partner of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), will utilize Midwest Sports to enhance its position as the world's leading tennis platform and replicate its European strategy in the U.S.
Stephan Zoll, CEO of SIGNA Sports United: "Midwest Sports has been a true American success story since its beginning. It is amazing, how Greg and his team self-built their company into what it is today. The U.S. tennis market is huge. We are thrilled to start acting directly as a major player in this market, building on Greg's work and our experience in Europe. This is an important milestone on our path to successfully expand our sports platform across the globe."
Greg Wolf, Co-Founder and President of Midwest Sports: "We are grateful to SIGNA Sports United for their interest and belief in our company and view our partnership as an important milestone for our business. I am confident that SIGNA Sports United will add significant value to our company and that together we will be able to fuel further innovation in the tennis e-commerce ecosystem."
Christian Miele, Founder and President of Tennis-Point: "It is incredibly remarkable that Midwest Sports now becomes part of SIGNA Sports United's tennis group and Greg Wolf will join the SIGNA Sports United team. The U.S. tennis market is the most important in the world, and I am looking forward to leaving footprints together with Greg in this exciting market."
About SIGNA Sports United
SIGNA Sports United, based in Berlin, Germany, is Europe's leading, fast-growing and profitable sports commerce and tech platform in the categories Bike, Tennis, Outdoor and Team Sports with more than 4m active customers and over 300m visitors annually. SIGNA Sports United brings together brands such as Fahrrad.de, Bikester, Probikeshop, Campz, Addnature, Tennis-Point, Outfitter and Stylefile. More than 1,000 brand partners, 500+ independent offline retailers and more than 10m digital sports community members are connected to its platform.
About Midwest Sports
Midwest Sports was founded by President Greg Wolf and his brother, and is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company is one of the top 3 U.S. online tennis retailers and employs approximately 100 people. In 2020, Midwest Sports had over 3m unique website visitors and served more than 300k customers. The company is the official retail sponsor of the Western & Southern Open, also known as the Cincinnati Masters, and has the exclusive rights to all retail tennis gear and apparel.
About Tennis-Point
Tennis-Point the tennis subsidiary of SIGNA Sports United and the globally leading tennis e-commerce & tech platform. The company is based in Europe, in Germany. With 14 local language online shops and 21 physical connected stores, Tennis-Point is by far the leading company in all of its core European markets. Tennis-Point employs more than 400 people.
Contact
Gideon Jessaijan, Public Relations
SIGNA Sports United
Kantstraße 164, 10623 Berlin, Germany
+49 30 300131-421
[email protected]
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