Artémis, a company owned by the Pinault family, will not sell its Puma holding at the current price

A source close to the company told Reuters on Thursday that Artémis, the French holding company owned by the Pinault family, which owns Kering, the owner of Gucci. Will not sell its 29% interest in sports brand Puma at the present market valuation and is not in negotiations for a sale.

The remarks are the first from a source with in-depth knowledge of the operations of the privately owned company. In August, Bloomberg revealed that Artemis was looking for possible bidders for its $960 million holding in Puma. After the August 25 release, Puma shares increased by 15%, but they have subsequently erased the majority of those gains.

«At this level, would we sell? Never… The source reaffirmed Artémis president François-Henri Pinault’s public remarks last week, in which he contended that Puma was not «strategic,» but added, «We consider Puma worth much more than that.»

After these remarks were made public, Puma’s stock dropped as much as 4.7% on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. They had risen 1.5% during the day and were down 3.6% by 3:12 PM GMT. Puma’s stock has lost over 60% of its value in the last two years as a result of the company’s declining market position in clothing and footwear as well as challenges attracting interest in new sneaker models like the Speedcat.

Puma would not be in Artémis’s portfolio «forever,» the insider noted, but he emphasized that the time was not perfect to sell.

When reached by Reuters, Puma refused to comment.