Titleist owner Acushnet files for $100M IPO

ACUSHNET CO., the maker of Titleist golf equipment, has filed for an initial public offering.
ACUSHNET CO., the maker of Titleist golf equipment, has filed for an initial public offering.

FAIRHAVEN – Acushnet Holdings Corp., the maker of Titleist golf balls and FootJoy performance wear, has filed for an initial public offering.

The regulatory filing sets $100 million as a placeholder sum for deal proceeds. The total number of shares to be offered for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, according to a press release from the company. Acushnet said it wants to trade under the symbol “GOLF,” but did not indicate on which exchange.
J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are leading the IPO.
Common stock shares to be sold in the offering will be sold by existing stockholders of Acushnet, the company said.
The filing said the company had revenue of $1.5 billion in 2015, a decline of 2.3 percent, and a loss of $1 million, compared with profit the previous year of $21.6 million.
Acushnet is moving forward with the IPO despite declining rounds. It said in the filing that it estimates the sport of golf “gives rise to a global commercial opportunity of more than $85 billion annually, which captures all spending related to golf.”

“Although the number of rounds of golf played in the United States declined overall from 2006 until the end of 2014, we believe that golf industry fundamentals, especially in developed markets such as the United States, Europe and Japan, have shown improvement since the beginning of 2015. We believe that the number of rounds of golf played by our target market of dedicated golfers was relatively stable during this period of overall decline in the golf industry,” the filing stated.
The IPO would come five years after Fortune Brands sold Acushnet to South Korean sports apparel company Fila Korea Ltd. and Mirae Asset Private Equity for $1.23 billion.

No posts to display