Coliseum Capital Management LLC, the third-largest shareholder of Performance Sports Group Ltd., said it was in talks with a third party related to a potential deal for the parent of Bauer and Easton.
When it filed for bankruptcy on October 31, Performance Sports indicated it already had a deal in place to sell nearly all of its assets for $575 million to an investor group led by Sagard Capital, its biggest shareholder, and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.
Sagard Capital is serving as the “stalking horse” bidder for an expected auction as part of bankruptcy court proceedings. Stalking horse bids typically represent a minimum opening price offered by existing shareholders in the business to prevent bargain-basement bids. Sagard owns 17 percent of PSG.
Coliseum Capital said on Tuesday it had received consent from Performance Sports’ financial adviser to begin discussions with an affiliate of one of the buyers of Performance Sports, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc., Performance Sports’ second largest shareholder, indicated a week before the bankruptcy filing that it was exploring a bid for the company. At the time of the filing, a Wall Street Journal report indicated that Brookfield was just interested in supporting the Fairfax and Sagard bid.
One other possible bidder for the company is former Performance Sports Chairman Graeme Roustan, who told Reuters in August that he was working with investment banks to explore a bid for the company.
Performance Sports makes baseball bats, lacrosse sticks and other sports equipment under the Bauer, Easton, Maverik, Mission, Cascade, Inaria and Combat names.
