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Foot Locker to make $360 million Japanese acquisition

Aug 12, 2021 (iclg.com) - Japanese streetwear and footwear boutique Text Trading Company KK (Atmos) has agreed to be taken over by United States footwear giant Foot Locker for USD 360 million.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Foot Locker engaged DLA Piper to act for it on the transaction, which Foot Locker hopes will help grow its reach and market position in Japan. Atmos owns the Atmos brand, a premium footwear retailer with a multi-channel offering and existing relationships with sellers in the footwear market. DLA Piper partner Erik Wulff, who also headed up the firm’s advisory team on the transaction, said in a statement that the deal will support Foot Locker’s “growth strategy in the growing Asia-Pacific market and expand on its impressive brand portfolio”. Foot Locker plans to pay for the acquisition using existing cash reserves. Atmos has 49 physical shop locations globally, with 39 of them in Japan, which is the world’s third-largest economy. As well as increasing its strategic presence in Japan, Foot Locker hopes that it can leverage its premium offering via the acquisition. In fiscal year 2020, Atmos generated revenues totalling approximately USD 175 million, with over 60% of this coming from online channels.

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Japan’s World Cup campaign ended in the cruelest possible fashion on June 29, as Gabriel Martinelli scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Brazil a 2-1 victory over the Samurai Blue in their knockout match in Houston. Japan had led in the first half and were still level at 1-1 in the final moments, but Martinelli’s late strike sent Brazil into the Round of 16 and eliminated Japan from the tournament.

Strong earthquakes have continued to shake parts of Japan in recent weeks, with 11 temblors measuring lower 5 or above on the Japanese seismic intensity scale recorded across the country since April 2026.

A Kintetsu Railway train derailed inside Kyoto Station on the morning of June 29, forcing partial suspensions on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line for the rest of the day and causing long delays that hit commuters, students and tourists.

A section of stone wall at Hikone Castle, one of Japan’s few surviving original Edo-period castles and a National Treasure whose main keep remains intact more than 400 years after its construction, collapsed after heavy rain caused by Typhoons No. 7 and No. 8, Hikone city officials said.

Japan advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup after a 1-1 draw with Sweden on June 25, finishing second in Group F and setting up a Round of 32 clash with Brazil in Houston.

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