Leonard Green & Partners, the Los Angeles buyout firm which already owns Sports Authority Inc., is in advanced talks to take a minority stake in Bass Pro Shops, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Sources said the investment could value Bass Pro between $4 billion and $5 billion including debt, close to Cabela's valuation in the public market. Any deal is likely “likely weeks away and there is no guarantee one will be reached.”
Bass Pro hired investment bank Moelis & Co. for help exploring
options for raising funds, the Journal reported in
September.
In March, Leonard Green partnered with TPG to Life Time Fitness Inc.. the operator in gyms, for more than $2.8 billion. It took The Sports Authority private in 2006 in a $1.3 billion deal.
Bass Pro Shops operates 90 stores and Tracker Marine Centers across America and Canada that are visited by more than 120 million people every year. The company’s Tracker Marine Group, a leading brand of fishing boats for more than 36 years, manufactures and sells a variety of boats for fishing and cruising. It also operates the Bass Pro Shops resort Big Cedar Lodge.
The Wall Street Journal report is here.
