Football helmet maker Riddell exploring potential sale: report
Riddell announced a 7-year extension of its contract with the NFL last week
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Football equipment maker Riddell is reportedly exploring a sale that would value the company at around $800 million.
Riddell, which makes football helmets and shoulder pads as well as other equipment, told Reuters that it’s exploring a sale and has engaged investment banks UBS Group and Robert W. Baird & Co. to gauge market interest in the sports equipment company.
"The execution by Riddell’s industry-leading team, unprecedented growth fueled by innovation, and other positive developments make the company a desirable acquisition candidate," the company said in a statement reported by Reuters.
Riddell makes the majority of the helmets worn by players in the National Football League, with about 76% of NFL players wearing Riddell-branded helmets per the company. Last week, Riddell announced a seven-year extension of the partnership through the 2030 season, and the company is also the NFL’s exclusive licensee of collectible helmets sold to fans.
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Football helmet maker Riddell is reportedly exploring a sale. (REUTERS/Eve Edelheit/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
The company also makes football helmets and shoulder pads for a variety of college, high school and youth football programs.
Sources familiar with Riddell’s move to consider a potential sale indicated to Reuters the private equity-backed company generates about $85 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Some of those sources indicated to the outlet that negative press coverage of concussions suffered by NFL players could weigh on the deal’s value.
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About 76% of NFL players, including the Seattle Seahawks' DK Metcalf, wear Riddell helmets, according to the company. (Michael Owens/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Riddell’s potential $800 million valuation is based in part on another sporting goods industry acquisition last week in which Marucci Sports, which makes baseball gear, was acquired by Fox Factory Holding Corp. for $572 million, 10.5 times its EBITDA for the last 12 months of $54 million.
Private equity firm Fenway Partners has owned Riddell for two decades after acquiring Riddell Sports Group in 2003. It later combined it with Bell Sports in 2004 and merged it with Easton Sports in 2006 in a transaction valued at about $400 million, renaming it Easton-Bell.
A Washington State Cougars helmet on the field before the Cheez-It Bowl college football game between the Air Force Falcons and the Washington State Cougars on December 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Fenway changed the name again in 2014 to BRG Sports to represent its core Bell, Riddell and Giro brands and sold its Easton baseball and softball business to Bauer Performance Sports. In 2016, Vista Outdoor — a manufacturer of sporting and outdoor products — acquired Bell, Giro and a pair of other brands from BRG Sports, which left Riddell as its remaining brand.
Reuters contributed to this report.