Wolverine World Wide, Inc. has announced that it is to create a new subsidiary to manage the growth of the CAT footwear brand in the European market.

This new joint venture entity, Wolverine Europe Limited, has purchased the European CAT footwear business from Overland Group Limited of London, England. Stephen Palmer, founder and owner of the Overland Group Limited, will be a minority shareholder and head up the new venture.

The markets served directly by the new operation will include Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and United Kingdom, and it will continue to co-ordinate and oversee support for other European markets served by independently-owned distributors.

Commenting on the acquisition, Bill Brown, President of Wolverine's Performance Footwear Group, said, "With nearly 50% of CAT footwear's global volume coming from Europe, it makes sense to invest directly to strengthen our position in that market. By combining Wolverine's financial, operational and global marketing strengths with the Overland team's product expertise and in-depth knowledge of the European footwear market, we are creating a powerful organisation that will ensure continued growth of this great footwear brand."

In a related action, the company has announced the expansion of its UK-based Merrell operations to cover the additional countries of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Spain. A new subsidiary, Merrell Europe BV, has been formed to direct the operations of these additional countries.