US footwear firm buys Sweaty Betty in $400m deal

Wolverine Worldwide deal means UK workout brand's founders will further loosen ties

Sweaty Betty, the upmarket British workout gear brand, has been sold to a US footwear firm in a $410m (295m) deal that will all but sever ties between the company and the husband-and-wife team who founded it.

After a year-long sale process that had been expected to fetch as much as 400m, the Michigan-based footwear manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide said it had struck a deal at a lower price with Sweaty Betty's backers.