HELSINKI (BRAIN) — Private equity investor consortium Mascot Bidco Oy has made a cash offer to purchase all issued and outstanding shares of Amer Sports Corp., currently valued at 4.6 billion euros (about $5.2 billion). This excludes shares held by Amer Sports or its subsidiaries. Amer’s board of directors has recommended that shareholders accept the offer.
The investor consortium includes Hong Kong-based Anta Sports, a major athletic shoe supplier and retailer; FV Fund, an investment vehicle managed by Chinese equity firm FountainVest Partners; Anamerend Investments, which is owned by Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder Chip Wilson; and Chinese investment conglomerate Tencent. Anta will hold 57.9 percent of the shares, FV Fun 21.4 percent, Tencent 5.63 percent and Anamered Investments 20.6 percent.
The group has offered 40 euros in cash per share, which represents a premium of 39 percent compared with the share closing price on Sept. 10, the day before Anta first made the bid to purchase Amer. At the time of the offer, Amer had issued a total of 116,517,285 shares, of which 115,220,745 shares are outstanding, and 1,296,540 shares are held in treasury.
Nasdaq Helsinki transferred Amer shares into observation, stopping trading at least briefly after the offer was announced Friday.
According to a statement issued by Anta, Amer Sports will be operated independently via Anta Sports with a separate board of directors, and current Amer president and CEO Heikki Takala has been invited to continue leading the business. Investors said they intend to provide Amer with R&D resources and manufacturing and sourcing capabilities in China in order to grow its business in the Chinese market, as well as provide access to Anta’s distribution network.
Amer’s corporate offices would remain in Helsinki.
Amer has explored the option of selling Mavic and Enve, but it’s not yet clear how a sale of the entire company could affect those plans. Amer’s brand portfolio also includes Salomon, Peak Performance, Atomic, Suunto, Louisville Slugger, Wilson, Precor and Arc’teryx.
