The Hong Kong Investment Corporation has invested in fintech unicorn WeLab, while ANTA Sports has announced plans to acquire German outdoor wear maker Jack Wolfskin.
HKIC backs fintech unicorn WeLab
The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), an investment firm wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR government, has invested in fintech unicorn WeLab. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The investment by HKIC and its partnership with WeLab is expected to drive greater market attention and capital flow to Asia as well as strengthening Hong Kong’s competitiveness and influence as an international financial hub, HKIC said in a release on Thursday.
Since its inception in 2013, WeLab has grown into a pan-Asian fintech platform, which operates two digital banks as well as providing financial services in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Indonesia, with around 70 million individual users and 700 enterprises. The Hong Kong-based firm currently eyes Thailand as a key target for its third digital banking licence.
ANTA Sports to acquire Jack Wolfskin
Hong Kong-listed ANTA Sports has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire a 100% stake in German outdoor wear and equipment maker Jack Wolfskin for $290 million in cash, which will be subject to net working capital and other customary adjustments, according to an exchange filing on Thursday.
The acquisition will help ANTA—China’s largest sportswear maker—to expand its outdoor sports segment; ANTA will also benefit from Jack Wolfskin’s exclusive material technologies as well as their German engineering and design team.
The acquisition is expected to close in the late second quarter or early third quarter of 2025, per the filing. Upon completion, Jack Wolfskin and its subsidiaries will become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of ANTA.
