Bauer is one of the premier brands in hockey. Every player, whether they use Bauer or not, knows the brand and has more than likely at least tried one of its products in their hockey lifetime.
Bauer is also in trouble. They are under investigation, and on its face the accusations do not bode well for those under the microscope.
The former chairman of Performance Sports Group Ltd., the company that oowns the Bauer brand, Graeme Roustan, told Reuters he has hired investment banks Jefferies Group LLC and Canaccord Genuity to explore a possible bid for the troubled company.
Roustan said he believes he can turn the company around after it posted losses, and while it is under investigation by securities regulators in the United States and Canada. The company is conducting an internal investigation into its accounting practices, which has delayed the release of its annual report.
The delay of the annual report has cause the PSG or Bauer stock to plummet in value.
Roustan told Reuters in January he was looking to wage a proxy battle, also known as a hostile take over, or take the company private at a premium to its stock price, then at $12.36, if the company did not abandon plans to open its own stores. He said the move would pit the company against its own customers. The stock price today is at $2.35.
Roustan sued accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP earlier this year for breach of contract and defamation in connection with a survey of the company’s strategy, according to a claim filed in a Canadian court. That lawsuit is still ongoing.
The company, which was founded in the 1920s, was owned for about a decade by sporting goods giant Nike Inc. before being sold to Mr. Roustan and private equity firm Kohlberg & Co. in 2008. It went public in 2011.
Stay tuned as TJHN will updates this story as more information becomes available.
