By
Bloomberg
Published
Feb 1, 2024
Amer Sports Inc. raised $1.3 billion in a US initial public offering priced below a marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter, in the second major IPO in a week to miss its target.
The maker of Wilson tennis rackets and Salomon ski boots priced 100 million shares at $13 each, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The backers agreed to buy 21 million additional shares at the IPO price, on top of their previous commitment, the people said.
At $1.3 billion, Amer’s IPO is the biggest since Birkenstock Holding Plc raised $1.48 billion in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Amer had marketed 100 million shares for $16 to $18, according to its filings. A representative for Amer Sports didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Three members of the consortium that acquired the company in 2019 agreed to buy shares at the offering price, according to the company’s filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Anta and Anamered Investments Inc. planned to buy as much as $220 million of stock each, while Tencent Holdings Ltd. is buying as much as $70 million, the filings show. Anamered is the investment firm of Chip Wilson, founder of yoga-apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc.
The disappointing result may chill the IPO market’s nascent recovery. An initial burst of optimism around semiconductor designer Arm Holdings Plc’s $5.23 billion offering in September failed to deliver a hoped-for rebound in the market, with prices of some later IPOs sinking below their respective offer prices.
Last week, KKR & Co.-backed BrightSpring Health Services Inc. fell short of its IPO goal, raising only $693 million in the first-time share sale after seeking as much as $960 million. Shares of BrightSpring, which also sold about $400 million tangible equity units in connection with the offering, have sunk 15% below the IPO price.
Amer Sports is backed by China’s largest athletic-apparel producer, Anta Sports Products Ltd. It owns brands including Louisville Slugger baseball bats, Arc’teryx outdoor gear and Atomic winter equipment.
Amer Sports had a net loss of about $115.6 million on revenue of $3.05 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 30, according to the filings. It sees a collective market opportunity across its brands of approximately $522 billion as of 2022.
The company, with offices in Helsinki, Munich, Krakow and Shanghai, has more than 10,800 employees globally, the filings show.
The Anta-led consortium acquired Amer Sports for about $5.2 billion in 2019 as part of an effort to bring high-end athletic equipment to China’s increasingly wealthy middle class.
Amer Sports’ IPO is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley. The company’s shares are expected to begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AS.