Report: TaylorMade For Sale

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Well, ain't this interesting.  What do you say, GolfSpies?

Reported by the New York Times:

 

Exclusive: TaylorMade is for sale

KPS Capital Partners has hired Morgan Stanley to run a sale of TaylorMade, the golf equipment brand, DealBook has learned. A deal could value the company at more than $2 billion; KPS bought it for $425 million from Adidas four years ago. Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley and KPS declined to comment, while TaylorMade was unavailable for comment.

Tiger beat. Adidas sold the brand to KPS in 2017, as golf was falling out of favor and the German sportswear group sought to refocus on shoes and clothes. (It’s since tapped JPMorgan Chase to weigh a sale of its Reebok brand.) By the time KPS bought TaylorMade, the brand had struck a deal with Tiger Woods, who needed a club sponsor after Nike quit the business. When Mr. Woods signed the deal, he was struggling to make a comeback, but two years later he won the Masters.

• While TaylorMade has also inked deals with Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and others, its deal with Mr. Woods is a “key component to the strength and growth” of the brand, its C.E.O., David Abeles, said last year.

Pandemic boom. Social distancing has been a boon for golf. Sales of golf equipment hit $1 billion in the third quarter of last year, up 18 percent from the year before. The last time the industry topped those levels was in 2008, the last year Mr. Woods won a major before his career was sidelined by injuries and scandal.

[FrogginBullfish]

Very, very interesting, indeed.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[Berg Ryman]

An awesome piece of business by KPS from a profit standpoint, making 5 times return on investment if the sale goes through at that valuation.

At a valuation of 2 Billion, who can play in that market to make the purchase make sense? I assume you'd see the usual names floated like UA, maybe NIke finds its way back in or the long rumored Tiger buys a company rumor comes true? Also wondering if the new buyer has plans to grow the portfolio much like Callaway has to expand outside of the golf hardgoods space.

Gonna be a fun watch for sure.

[russtopherb]

1 minute ago, Berg Ryman said:

An awesome piece of business by KPS from a profit standpoint, making 5 times return on investment if the sale goes through at that valuation.

At a valuation of 2 Billion, who can play in that market to make the purchase make sense? I assume you'd see the usual names floated like UA, maybe NIke finds its way back in or the long rumored Tiger buys a company rumor comes true? Also wondering if the new buyer has plans to grow the portfolio much like Callaway has to expand outside of the golf hardgoods space.

Gonna be a fun watch for sure.

As soon as I saw the topic, my first immediate thought was "buy low, sell high". 

[Berg Ryman]

1 minute ago, russtopherb said:

As soon as I saw the topic, my first immediate thought was "buy low, sell high". 

Is Taylormade the new Gamestop? My TED Talk goes live... here!

[Middler]

Who’s surprised? With private equity invested - it was just a matter of when, not if. 

[Miboy62]

It’s going to be something to who makes an offer to KPS that’s a whole lot of cabbage.

[jayjay0808]

You have to respect what their leadership did in those 4 years to have the company increase in valuation by 400%... Bringing in Tiger, and then adding someone like Fowler for only a ball deal, pretty smart.

[Nickesquire]

Love most TaylorMade products, especially their M2 and SIM wood lines. But WAY over valued and anyone forking out two billion $$$ will likely take a bath in red ink once the next golf industry downturn occurs. 

[fixyurdivot]

That is certainly BIG news within the golfing industry.  Outwardly it suggests those at KPS believe it's time to take the profit.  Is that an indicator (prediction) of a post pandemic bust for the golf industry?  The Nike/Tiger angle as perspective buyers is certainly interesting. Phil and Tiger could probably scrounge up the $4B if they dig deep into their couch cushions.  Wow, if Callaway were to purchase TM - what a behemoth they become.  TM seems to have a pretty solid customer base and brand loyalty, so it will be interesting to see if, whoever buys them, keeps them intact or not.

[RickyBobby_PR]

36 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

That is certainly BIG news within the golfing industry.  Outwardly it suggests those at KPS believe it's time to take the profit.  Is that an indicator (prediction) of a post pandemic bust for the golf industry?  The Nike/Tiger angle as perspective buyers is certainly interesting. Phil and Tiger could probably scrounge up the $4B if they dig deep into their couch cushions.  Wow, if Callaway were to purchase TM - what a behemoth they become.  TM seems to have a pretty solid customer base and brand loyalty, so it will be interesting to see if, whoever buys them, keeps them intact or not.

I don’t think it has anything to do with a post pandemic bust looming, but rather to your comment about taking the profit and getting out. They never had the intention of staying in it for the long haul.

[fixyurdivot]

2 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

I don’t think it has anything to do with a post pandemic bust looming, but rather to your comment about taking the profit and getting out. They never had the intention of staying in it for the long haul.

Yea, perhaps not so much a "bust" but rather predicting the peak of the boom.

[ZenGolfer]

On 2/2/2021 at 2:38 PM, GolfSpy Barbajo said:

Well, ain't this interesting.  What do you say, GolfSpies?

Reported by the New York Times:

 

Exclusive: TaylorMade is for sale

KPS Capital Partners has hired Morgan Stanley to run a sale of TaylorMade, the golf equipment brand, DealBook has learned. A deal could value the company at more than $2 billion; KPS bought it for $425 million from Adidas four years ago. Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley and KPS declined to comment, while TaylorMade was unavailable for comment.

Tiger beat. Adidas sold the brand to KPS in 2017, as golf was falling out of favor and the German sportswear group sought to refocus on shoes and clothes. (It’s since tapped JPMorgan Chase to weigh a sale of its Reebok brand.) By the time KPS bought TaylorMade, the brand had struck a deal with Tiger Woods, who needed a club sponsor after Nike quit the business. When Mr. Woods signed the deal, he was struggling to make a comeback, but two years later he won the Masters.

• While TaylorMade has also inked deals with Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy and others, its deal with Mr. Woods is a “key component to the strength and growth” of the brand, its C.E.O., David Abeles, said last year.

Pandemic boom. Social distancing has been a boon for golf. Sales of golf equipment hit $1 billion in the third quarter of last year, up 18 percent from the year before. The last time the industry topped those levels was in 2008, the last year Mr. Woods won a major before his career was sidelined by injuries and scandal.

Interesting but not surprising.  Investment firms buy companies to sell them for a profit, not to run them.  Hopefully someone buys Taylormade who can run them properly and keep them afloat.

[knightsofnii]

I had to check the date to make sure this didn't coincide with Tiger's crash.  

 

Tiger should buy it.  Proceeds to multiple foundations.  I've seen MGS kick around thoughts that maybe Nike would buy it also?  

Who knows.  They've had a great run though!