JD Sports Fashion has proposed to buy American athletic-fashion retailer Hibbett for about US$1.08 billion, the companies said on Tuesday (Apr 23), as the British sportswear retailer expands across the southeastern US.

JD Sports, Britain’s largest sportswear retailer, will pay US$87.50 per Hibbett share in cash, representing a premium of about 20 per cent to the US firm’s last closing price.

The Bury, Greater Manchester-based company said it expects to fund the deal and refinance Hibbett’s existing debt through its existing US cash resources of US$300 million and a US$1 billion extension to its existing bank facilities.

The enlarged group would have combined revenues of about US$5.80 billion in North America, JD Sports said, adding that the region’s contribution to total sales would increase to about 40 per cent from the current 32 per cent. REUTERS