Sport Zone, Portugal’s leading sports retail chain, will launch in India through stores managed by Trent.

Part of the Tata group, Trent is one of India’s largest and fastest growing retail chains.

Sport Zone, headquartered in Iberia and owned by Sonae, is the largest chain of sports shops in Portugal. The innovative products and equipment developed and marketed by Sport Zone will be available to Indian customers in franchised stores and shop-in-shops in department stores managed by Trent.

The first such store is the newly launched Commercial St store of Landmark.

The partnership plans to open the first five Sport Zone stores in India by end of 2016.

Miguel Mota Freitas, CEO of Sonae SR, said Sonae wants to capitalise on the distinctive factors of its brands worldwide, exploiting their competitive advantages, based on the design and quality of their products.

“The group’s entry into the Indian market is another important step in this strategy, as it enables us to strengthen our presence in Asia and allows us to have Trent as a benchmark partner in the second most populous country in the world.”

Established in 1997, Sport Zone offers a wide range of sports goods and equipment of leading international brands as well as exclusive brands and has over 100 stores across the world. Sport Zone also markets its brands and innovations worldwide since its exclusive brands are available through wholesale channels in 22 countries.

Sonae is one of the largest retail groups in Portugal with two major partnerships in Shopping Centers (Sonae Sierra) and Telecommunications (Sonaecom) businesses. At the end of 2014, Sonae achieved turnover of around 5 billion euros.