It was coming. As soon as Reebok was purchased by Adidas last year for $3.8 billion, there was speculation that Puma was next. According to fresh reports from yesterday, April 10th, the French retailer PPR which includes brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent announced a bid for 5.3 billion Euros for Puma, based out of Germany. PPR will buy a 27% stake in Puma from German billionaires Guenter and Daniela Herz and will make an offer for the rest.

Puma, which ranks relatively high in our North American Youth Culture Study (and slightly higher in our European Youth Culture Study) particularly among 18-20-year-olds, has been known to extend its reach outside of sports-inspired admirers, even though it sponsors the Italian soccer team and Serena Williams, with design directions that are fashionably street couture. In the recent past, Puma sneaks have been equally paired with work clothes and suits, dresses, high-end denim and graphic T-shirts, and other upper urbanwear styles in the United States and especially Western Europe.

Talk of the bid boosted market shares 10% before Easter and are still up 8.2% at 339.85 Euros as of yesterday late afternoon. Analysts HVB raised its investment recommendation of Puma from “hold” to “buy” under the belief that the fair value for Puma shares would be more than 400 Euros.

According to a Paris-based trader, PPR’s offer represented a multiple of 12 times Puma’s enterprise value (EV), which compared with the Adidas takeover of Reebok, is 13 times less that EV.

PPR added that it’s open to further acquisition opportunities. PPR expects to complete a five-week offer for the rest of the Puma shares in July.

Plans for Puma are not to cut costs, since the brand is steady and PPR is in no need to make acquisitions to grow, however they do plan to improve Puma’s reach in international markets, especially in the key market of the United States, and expand it’s ever-increasing high-end line of Puma products.