Blackstone Group LP is in negotiations to acquire the German outdoor gear maker Jack Wolfskin GmbH & Co. KGaA for about $1 billion, according to two separate wire reports.


Barclays Private Equity and Quadriga Capital have been shopping the company since last year, but pulled back on talks this spring when sales at Jack Wolfskin exceeded expectations.  On Friday, Reuters quoted an unidentified Quadriga executive as confirming the talks with Blackstone and saying they could result in a deal as soon as Q3.


Jack Wolfskin is the dominant outdoor brand in Germany, but is not distributed in the U.S. and has relatively little distribution outside of Germany. Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer estimated last week that Wolfskins annual sales are approaching €300 million, or $423 million at Fridays exchange rate.

 

Adidas has said it plans to more than double sales at its Adidas Outdoors business to €500 million by 2015. The North Face generates more than $1 billion a year in sales.