Soccer-E-commerce company Mercari takes majority stake in Asian champs Kashima
30/07/2019 10:29
TOKYO, July 30 (Reuters) - Reigning Asian Champions League
holders Kashima Antlers said on Tuesday that Japanese e-commerce
company Mercari 4385.T have purchased a majority stake in the
club from founding owners Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp
5401.T .
Mercari said on their website that they have bought 61.6% of
the club for 1.6 billion JPY ($14.7 million) in a deal approved
by the Japanese Football Association. Nippon Steel will still
own 11% of the club.
Kashima, record eight-time winners of Japan's J.League, were
founded in 1947 as the corporate team of Sumitomo Metal
Industries, who later merged with Nippon Steel in 2012.
They won their maiden Asian Champions League title last
season, defeating Iran's Persepolis.
Coached by Go Oiwa, Kashima are currently fourth in the
18-team J.League table, five points behind leaders FC Tokyo.
Mercari, founded in 2013, debuted on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange last year and are best known for a smartphone app that
allows people to trade used items online.
In February, Mercari booked a quarterly loss of 1.1 billion
yen after spending heavily to expand in the U.S. market.
(Reporting by Jack Tarrant and Yoko Kono; Editing by Hugh
Lawson)
((mailto:jack.tarrant@thomsonreuters.com;))