News briefs - Corporate and M&A – Page 42
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News briefs
Allbirds reportedly files for a confidential IPO
Allbirds, the B Corp-certified Californian brand of sustainable sneakers and apparel, has filed for a confidential initial public offering (IPO), according to WWD. Such a filing allows a company to keep details of its business performance and the terms of the transaction secret until 15 days before the IPO takes ...
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News briefs
Beachbody’s SPAC deal is endorsed, allowing it to go public
As planned, the shareholders of Forest Road Acquisition voted to approve a three-way merger of that special-purpose SPAC with The Beachbody Company and Myx Fitnes Holdings, an American supplier of connected exercise bicycles that generated revenues of $30 million last year from the sale of over 27,000 units priced at ...
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News briefs
Oros secures $14.5 million in Series A funding
Oros says it has received $14.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Elizabeth Street Ventures and Enlightenment Capital. Oros, based in Portland, Oregon, is an American start-up that leverages emerging NASA technology to develop advanced thermal materials and high-performance, low-impact apparel. The brand has developed a new ...
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News briefs
Goat Group more than doubles in value
The sneaker market is red hot, particularly online. The Goat Group more than doubled its valuation to $3.7 billion in its latest round of financing from $1.8 billion in the previous one last September. The company said its marketplace had generated a gross merchandise value of $2 billion in the ...
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News briefs
Slinger Bag acquires Foundation Tennis
Slinger Bag, the growing developer of portable tennis ball launchers, has acquired Foundation Tennis, a U.S. company that develops software for the administration of racquet sports clubs, in exchange of shares. The software suite can handle operations, booking, payments and digital platform management (website design, hosting, and iOS and Android ...
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News briefs
USWE starts trading on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market
USWE Sports, a Swedish company that offers vests and jump-free backpacks and hydration packs for mountain biking, running, skiing and motorsports, will go public on June 24 on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market. Earlier this month, the company had completed its offering to the general public in Sweden and ...
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News briefs
Anta partners with a university for research into sports fashion
Anta Sports has co-established the ”Tsinghua University-Anta Group Joint Research Center for Sports Fashion” with Tsinghua University, a major research university in Beijing. Anta will cooperate with the university over the next five years to explore innovative applications for new fabrics, new materials and new designs in the field of ...
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News briefs
Peloton launches a corporate wellness initiative in some countries
Businesses and organizations in certain countries will be able to offer subsidized access for their staff to Peloton’ connected fitness memberships and products through a new program, Peloton Corporate Wellness. Steered by a dedicated global general manager, Cassidy Rouse, the program is being offered for the moment to businesses and ...
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News briefs
Nobull was valued at $500m in a recent funding round
Complementing what we reported about Nobull on April 16, Business Insider has reported that this direct-to-consumer athletic footwear brand, founded in Boston by two former Reebok executives in 2015, enjoyed growth of 80 percent in 2020 because of the pandemic and reached a valutation of $500 million through a new ...
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News briefs
Superfeet is acquired by a private equity firm
Westward Partners, a Seattle-based private equity firm focusing on companies in the Pacific Northwest, has acquired Superfeet, a manufacturer of insoles and recovery footwear founded in 1977 and based in Ferndale, Washington. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Westward will take over majority ownership of the company from ...
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News briefsThe Munich region is set to host Europe’s largest surf park
Following the official approval of the project, the ground-breaking ceremony for Surftown MUC is scheduled for the autumn of 2021, and its completion is planned for the summer of 2023. Located near Munich, the new complex will comprise a 20,000-square-meter surf pool as well as a 29,000-square-meter multifunctional hybrid building ...
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News briefs
Xtep issues bonds to relaunch K-Swiss and Palladium
Xtep International of China is selling two tranches of convertible bonds to entities controlled by Hillhouse Capital to finance an international relaunch of the K-Swiss and Palladium brands, which it took over from E-Land Footwear in 2019. Hillhouse, which is controlled by the Chinese billionaire Zhang Lei, knows the industry ...
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News briefs
Finnish firm invests in plastic snow toys
Witta Oy, a Finnish manufacturer of injection-moulded pipe fittings and other industrial plastic products, has agreed to take over the manufacture of toy sleds, snow shovels and other snow toys from another Finnish company, Orthex Corporation, which has decided to concentrate on storage and other household items. The contract, whose ...
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News briefsIcon Health & Fitness becomes iFit
Icon Health & Fitness has changed its corporate name to iFit Health & Fitness to assert the value of its proprietary connected fitness platform. In the words of the U.S. company’s founder, chairman and CEO, Scott Watterson, “we are elevating the name of our operating system.” This system channels live ...
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News briefs
Pelican acquires an inflatable watercraft brand
Pelican International has acquired a California-based pioneer in inflatable watercraft, Advanced Elements, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Confluence Outdoors. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. Pelican says the takeover ”carves a path forward to help us become the premier brand of inflatable kayaks and SUPs in more than 50 counttries.” ...
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News briefsDorel Industries closes new $450 million credit facility
Earlier this year – and after lively discussions between Cerberus Capital Management, Dorel Industries and its shareholders – the Canadian conglomerate pulled out of a previously planned going-private transaction. With shareholders clearly expressing confidence in Dorel’s future and its greater potential for Dorel as a public company, the group has ...
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News briefs
Lululemon sets up Portland office for its footwear
Lululemon Athletica, the fast-growing sports apparel company based in Vancouver, has leased a 28,000-square-foot office space south of the border in Portland, Oregon, the sports footwear cluster of the U.S., to help prepare the launch of its first footwear line, according to the Portland Business Journal. The usually well informed ...
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News briefs
Sport-Tiedje grew by 55% last year, thanks to e-commerce
The German-based Sport-Tiedje Group, which claims to be still Europe’s largest retailer for home fitness products, has reported a 55 percent sales increase to €203 million for last year, with growth in all European countries, as higher online revenues compensated for the partial closure of its 65 stores in the ...
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News briefs
Iconix is going private under Lancer Capital's ownership
The Iconix Brand Group, whose brand portfolio includes Danskin, Starter and Umbro, among others, has entered into a definitive agreement to be bought by a private equity company, Lancer Capital, though its affiliate Iconix Acquisition Corp., in an all-cash transaction that values Iconix at about $585 million including net debt. ...
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News briefs
Adidas invests €3 million in Spinnova
Adidas has agreed to subscribe for €3 million worth of shares in Spinnova’s planned initial public offering (IPO). Spinnova, a Finnish manufacturer of textile fibers derived from wood or agricultural waste, is planning to list on the Nasdaq Helsinki First North Growth Market. The company is building its first factory ...
