Sonae said the agreement foresees combining the JD Group and JD Sprinter businesses with that of Sport Zone in Spain and Portugal.

The new entity will be controlled 50% by the JD Group, 30% by Sonae and 20% by the family shareholder of JD Sprinter.

“Both Sonae and JD Sprinter have extensive knowledge of the sports business in the Iberian Peninsula and both will play a key role in the strategic an operational management of the group they are going to set up”, they said in a communiqué sent to the Portuguese Stock Exchange Commission (CMVM).

The new group’s members had an estimated turnover of over €450 million last year and a chain of 287 stores (191 in Spain and 96 in Portugal).