Bauer Going Public
Bauer Performance Sports, a maker of hockey equipment in Canada for more than 80 years, said on Thursday it filed a final prospectus to raise at least C$75 million ($75 million) in an initial public stock offering.
Bauer said in a statement it would sell 10 million common shares to the public at a prices of C$7.50 per share and net proceeds will be used to acquire a 100 percent stake in Kohlberg Sports Group Inc for an unspecified amount.
The terms of the Public IPO were not disclosed, but sources said in January Bauer would list a 20 percent stake on the Toronto Stock Exchange, valuing Bauer at some C$375 million.
Bauer is the world's largest global supplier of hockey equipment, with a 45 percent market share globally in terms of sales in fiscal 2010.
The company was founded in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1927 and developed the first skate with a blade attached to a boot, an innovation credited with changing the game of ice hockey.
The public offering is being made through a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets and CIBC, and includes BMO Capital Markets, Scotia Capital Inc, TD Securities Inc, and Macquarie Capital Markets Canada.
