Late last week, Newell Brands Inc. announced that Kohlberg and Company, a private equity company out of Mount Kisco, NY will purchase Newell’s portfolio of winter brands for $240M. Kohlberg’s acquisition of brands including winter K2, Volkl, Marker, Dalbello, Madshus, Line, Ride, Full Tilt, BCA, Atlas, and Tubbs will make Kohlberg and Company the largest private equity holder in the snow sports market. Newell held on to Marmot. According to our data projections, Marmot brought in nearly $100M at snow sports retail last season.
Right now, private equity companies including Kohlberg, Altamont Capital Partners, and Authentic Brands Group own brands that have about a 10% ($387M) share of snow sports retail market’s sales. About 60% of retail sales in the snow sports market are attributed to privately owned brands (not private equity companies), and the remaining 30% of sales are attributed to brands owned by publicly traded companies like VF Corp, Amer and Columbia Sportswear. The two largest privately held companies in snow sports are Patagonia and Burton but The North Face, owned by VF Corp. is the largest brand in snow sports retail with more than 10% of the total snow sports market share.
Kohlberg and Company’s new acquisitions represent nearly 6% of total snow sports market retail sales. Here are a few points that demonstrate just how significant this acquisition is to the market, particularly in the alpine equipment and snowshoe categories.
- Kohlberg and Company now has 17% of alpine boots market share with Dalbello, Full Tilt, and K2 alpine boots sales.
- Kohlberg and Company now has 36% of the alpine ski market share with K2, Volkl and Line skis
- Kohlberg and Company now has 44% of the snowshoe market share with Atlas and Tubbs
- Kohlberg and Company now has 12% of snowboard market share with K2 snowboards and Ride
According to the Newell Brands press release that hit the wires on Friday, May 26th, Kohlberg & Company, L.L.C. specializes in middle-market investing. Gross proceeds from the divestiture are expected to be $240 million, subject to customary working capital and transaction adjustments. Net sales for the divested business were approximately $330 million during 2016 and annual adjusted EBITDA for the divested business is approximately $25 million. The transaction is expected to close late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor to Newell Brands on the transaction.
About Kohlberg & Company
Kohlberg & Company, L.L.C. (“Kohlberg”) is a leading private equity firm specializing in middle-market investing. Since its inception in 1987, Kohlberg has organized eight private equity funds, through which it has raised $7.5 billion of committed equity capital. Over its 30-year history, Kohlberg has completed 70 platform investments and more than 150 add-on acquisitions, with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $10 billion. For more information, please visit www.kohlberg.com.
About Newell Brands
Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL) is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Paper Mate®, Sharpie®, Dymo®, EXPO®, Parker®, Elmer’s®, Coleman®, Jostens®, Marmot®, Rawlings®, Oster®, Sunbeam®, FoodSaver®, Mr. Coffee®, Rubbermaid Commercial Products®, Graco®, Baby Jogger®, NUK®, Calphalon®, Rubbermaid®, Contigo®, First Alert®, Waddington and Yankee Candle®. For hundreds of millions of consumers, Newell Brands makes life better every day, where they live, learn, work and play.
This press release and additional information about Newell Brands are available on the company’s Web site, www.newellbrands.com.