At least five private equity firms are considering making a bid for Performance Sports Group (PSG), according to a report on Street.com.
The prospective buyers include KKR, Bain Capital LP, Apollo Global Management, TPG Capital and Sycamore Partners. PSG’s largest shareholder Sagard Capital Partners L.P. partnered with Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited $575 million and serves as the stalking course for an auction set for January 30.
The stalking horse bid remains subject to regulatory approval by the Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB). According to the Street.com report, former PSG chairman Graeme Roustan is pushing for the CCB to look into Sagard’s ownership of Power Corp., a diversified Quebec-based international management company with interests in financial services, communications and other sectors. The conflicts could include any business relationships with Adidas AG, which owns CCM.
Roustan, who led spinoff of Performance Sports Group, formerly Bauer Performance Sports, from Nike in 2008, is also in discussions in various PE firms on a buyout offer.
In late November, U.S. and Canadian courts approved the updated bidding procedures following complaints over the $575 million bid from Sagard Capital and Fairfax Financial. Under the updated bidding procedures, the deadline to submit qualified bids was extended from January 4 to January 25, 2017, with the auction set for January 30, 2017. The initial bidding requirement was reduced from $582.5 million to $580 million and subsequent bids must now be at least $1 million higher, versus $2.5 million increments beforehand. The minimum break-up fee to be paid to Sagard if another deal was reached was also reduced, from $20.1 million to $17.25 million.
Besides Bauer, Performance Sports Group owns Mission, Maverik, Cascade, Inaria, Combat and Easton.
