Just a day after TaylorMade Golf unveiled Rory McIlroy as its newest staffer, parent company adidas announced it had reached a deal to sell TaylorMade, Adams Golf and Ashworth to KPS Capital Partners LP for $425-million.
‘adidas will record a nonoperational negative P&L impact in the high-double-digit to low-triple-digit million euro range, which will be reported in discontinued operations as part of the company’s 2017 results,’ read a release.
KPS Capital Partners LP is private equity firm headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1991. The firm’s main focus is investing in a range of manufacturing industries, including basic materials, branded consumer, healthcare and luxury products, automotive parts, capital equipment and general manufacturing.
‘TaylorMade is a leading global golf brand with an exceptionally strong market position,’ said Kasper Rorsted, CEO of adidas AG. ‘We would like to thank all TaylorMade employees for their many contributions to our company and wish them all the best for a successful future under their new ownership. At the same time, we welcome all adidas Golf employees who will be integrated into our adidas Heartbeat Sports Business Unit.’
adidas noted that the divestiture of its golf hardware division had already been reflected in the company’s long-term outlook announced in March. The company hopes to record net sales of €25-billion to €27-billion and an implied operating margin of 11 percent by 2020.
Sales talks regarding TaylorMade, Adams Golf and Ashworth were announced in August 2015, but it wasn’t until April 2016 that adidas confirmed it had decided ‘to enter into concrete negotiations with interested parties’.
Even with news of a potential sale looming for the last year-plus, TaylorMade has continued to bolster and reinforce its TOUR staff, signing McIlroy and Jon Rahm to long-term equipment deals; Dustin Johnson and Jason Day agreed to re-sign last year as well.
TaylorMade and KPS Capital Partners declined to comment on the sale.
Credit: pgatour.com
