Confluence Holdings Corp. has signed a purchase agreement under which Confluence will acquire the water sports division's assets of WaterMark Paddlesports Inc. including WaterMark's paddlesports brands, the WaterMark name and WaterMark's assets in Easley, SC. The agreement does not include WaterMark's land sports division. Industry veteran Richard Feehan has been named CEO of Confluence. The transaction is expected to close Monday, May 16th, 2005.
“This is a very exciting time for me to come on board at Confluence,” said Feehan. “Confluence and WaterMark's paddlesports division include the most recognized brands in the industry and together will form the premier
paddlesports company in the world.”
Founded in 1998, Confluence was formed through the merger of Mad River Canoe, which included Voyageur, and Wilderness Systems, which included WindRider. In 2001, Confluence expanded its range of products with the
acquisition of Wave Sport. The Confluence family of brands includes Mad River CanoeR, Wilderness SystemsR touring and recreational kayaks, Wave Sport whitewater kayaks, WindRiderR sailing trimarans, and VoyageurR water
sports accessories.
WaterMark was formed in 1998 through the merger of Perception and Dagger. Since then, WaterMark has expanded its product range to include Harmony, AT Paddles, Yakima, and Rhode Gear. WaterMark's paddlesports division brands
includes Dagger touring and whitewater kayaks, Perception touring and whitewater kayaks, MainstreamR recreational kayaks, HarmonyR paddlesports accessories and AT Paddles.
Confluence and the WaterMark paddlesports division will continue to operate as autonomous business units for the remainder of the 2005 selling season. Confluence fully anticipates that industry veterans Kelley Woolsey, SVP
Marketing & Sales, and Bob McDonough, VP of Research & Development, will continue to lead the Confluence side of the business, and Brian Fisch, VP of Sales, Ron Barlow, VP of Operations, and Tony Lee, Director of Research &
Development, will continue to lead the WaterMark side.
“As this acquisition will be taking place in the midst of the selling season we will do everything we can to ensure that there is no disruption to our customer service, delivery performance or sales coverage. It will be
business as usual for our customers,” added Feehan.
As part of the agreement, Confluence has contracted WaterMark to continue to handle all customer service activities for the WaterMark paddlesports division from their current customer service center in Arcata, CA, during
the transitional period. In addition, during this period Confluence will rebuild a customer service and credit department for the division in the Easley facility.
