JD Sports buys US-based DTLR Villa for $495m

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 1, 2021

JD Sports may have quietly dropped out of the race to buy Topshop but it hasn’t stopped looking for acquisitions. On Monday it said that it has reached a conditional agreement to buy US-based DTLR, the “hyperlocal athletic footwear and apparel streetwear retailer”.

It’s paying $495 million, of which roughly $100 million will be used to repay existing debt. And it’s being funded from the group's cash resources and existing bank facilities.

Glenn Gaynor and Scott Collins will be continuing in their roles as Co-CEOs and the management team will also be reinvesting a portion of their proceeds back into DTLR in exchange for a new minority stake of around 1.4%. 

DTLR currently operates from 247 stores across 19 states, principally in the north and east of the United States. In the 52 weeks up to February last year, DTLR delivered EBITDA of $45.6 million and a pre-tax profit of $1.6 million.

The almost-30-year-old company is based in Baltimore and is (for now) majority owned by BRS & Co and Goode Capital, but the deal for JD Sports to take it over should complete in Q1.

The business began in 1982 and was originally named Downtown Locker Room. It later rebranded as DTLR and in 2017 merged with Sneaker Villa. 

Its purchase will enhance the British firm’s US presence, complementing its existing JD and Finish Line chains and also the recent acquisition of Shoe Palace, which is based on the West Coast.

JD chairman Peter Cowgill called the deal “another exciting milestone in the group's development in the United States. Like Shoe Palace, DTLR pride themselves on the deep connection they have with their consumers and the active role they play in the communities that they serve. As such, we intend to retain the DTLR Villa fascia and its proposition”.