The Authentic Brands Group has confidentially filed an application for an initial public offering (IPO), according to Women’s Wear Daily, whose sources apparently confirmed a previous report in Bloomberg that ABG was exploring a potential IPO that could value the group at about $10 billion. The IPO that could be launched in mid-July, WWD adds. In our opinion, a public offering could help ABG to finance a bid worth more than $1 billion for Reebok in conjunction with Wolverine Worldwide, if the recent speculation around such a move is correct. ABG recently agreed to acquire Eddie Bauer in partnership with the Simon Property Group. At last report, ABG’s huge portfolio of 30-odd brands was generating annual sales of more than $14 billion at retail. In the sports sector, its brands include Airwalk, Spyder, Tretorn, Prince, Vision Street and Volcom, plus the Sports Iluustrated magazine and the rights for Muhammad Ali and Shaqauille O’Neal.

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