MUMBAI: adidas-Salomon AG, the world's second- largest sporting-goods maker, will acquire Reebok International Ltd in a $ 3.8 billion deal including the assumption of net cash of $ 84 million.

adidas will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Reebok for $ 59 per share in cash.

 
With this development, Adidas has inched closer to the sports leader Nike. The purchase, the company's biggest since it bought Salomon in 1998, will give Adidas 28 per cent of the global $11.5 billion athletic-shoe market, rivaling Nike's 31 per cent.
 
 
The offer price represents a premium of 34.2 per cent over the closing price of Reebok’s stock on 2 August, 2005. The transaction will be subject to the approval of Reebok’s shareholders as well as to the regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Both companies believe that the transaction will close in the first half of 2006.
 
 
The announcement was made soon after adidas-Salomon AG posted a 30 per cent gain in second-quarter net profit and improved sales. The company earned $80.6 million or $2.47 a share, in the quarter ended 30 June.