Fanatics has completed its acquisition of EPI, an Italian sports merchandise company which operates the official online and retail stores of several top Italian football clubs and international sports brands.
The Milan-based company will soon be re-branded as Fanatics Italy.
It provides full end-to-end ecommerce, in-venue, physical retail store operations and third-party logistics for many of the biggest sports clubs in Italy including several leading Italian Serie A clubs like AC Milan, Atalanta BC, Bologna FC, ACF Fiorentina, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus, S.S. Lazio, and the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio), as well as for Italian basketball club Olimpia Milano and the NBA.
As part of the deal, Fanatics will also acquire The Pitch Football Store, a football specialist omnichannel retailer.
“I am thrilled to welcome Lorenzo and the EPI team to Fanatics – we share an entrepreneurial mindset, a passion for delighting sports fans and a love for innovating for sports teams and leagues, which makes for an exciting future together,” commented Doug Mack, Fanatics Commerce ceo and Fanatics vice chairman. “By combining EPI’s local expertise and relationships in Italy with Fanatic’s leading-edge capabilities and global reach – we are excited to accelerate business for EPI’s current partners while further advancing our unrivaled offering for new global partners ahead.”
EPI will become part of the Fanatics Commerce division and all of its approximately 150 employees will continue reporting into ceo Lorenzo Forte, in his new role as the ceo of Fanatics Italy. Lorenzo will report into Fanatics Commerce co-presidents for direct to consumer, Jack Boyle and Chris Orton.
Lorenzo commented: “We’re excited to join Fanatics, a global company with the experience of serving millions of sports fans from some of the biggest sports clubs and organisations in the world. Fanatics is one of the fastest growing and most exciting companies in sport and we are ready to tap into its increasingly global presence and bring a more extensive digital sports experience to global fans, both here in Italy and across the world.”
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