PUMA AG

Herzogenaurach is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. It is probably best known for being the home of the sporting goods companies Adidas and Puma. Herzogenaurach is situated in the Middle Franconia area of Bavaria, approx. 23 km or 14 miles northwest of... Nuremberg. The town is located on the Aurach river, a tributary of the Regnitz river. At least 1000 years in existence, Herzogenaurach was first mentioned in a document in the year 1002 AD under the name of Uraha when Emperor Heinrich II granted the town to the archbishopric of Bamberg. Herzogenaurach is the birthplace of two sporting goods giants: Adidas and Puma, founded by the two brothers Adolf Dassler and Rudolf Dassler, after an acrimonious family split in 1948. Both companies' headquarters are still located in the town on opposite sides of the Aurach River, and brand loyalty is sharply divided as well. Also the headquarters of Schaeffler Group are located in Herzogenaurach. The Argentina national football team resided in Herzogenaurach for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
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PPR is a French multinational holding company which develop a worldwide brand portfolio distributed in 120 countries. The company was founded in 1963 by the businessman François Pinault and is now run by his son François-Henri Pinault. It is quoted on Euronext Paris and is a constituent of the CAC 40 index. On the 2nd June 1962, François Pinault officially opened the Etablissements Pinault, specialized in wood trade negotiation,... and then in construction material. First a company from Bretagne, it grew organically and thanks to successive acquisitions, it reached national recognition. In 1987, the Pinault group took control of the paper-maker La Chapelle d’Arblay, which faced economic difficulties. It was then sold out to Finnish group Kymmene. Pinault SA was listed in the Second Marché of Bourse de Paris in 1988, and allowed institutions such as the Crédit Lyonnais or the AGF to invest in its company. In March 1990, François Pinault was elected president of CFAO, which specialized in electrical material distribution and negotiation in Africa.
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