Performance Sports Group has announced it will seek approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court for the sale of its assets to Sagard Capital Partners and Fairfax Financial Holdings, after it failed to attract other bids in an auction process. On Oct. 31, 2016, Performance entered into an asset purchase agreement for the sale of the company with a group of investors led by Sagard Capital Partners and Fairfax Financial Holdings, two of Canada's largest financial groups. At the time, Sagard and Fairfax had agreed to act as “stalking horse” bidders to buy most of Performance's assets and its North American units for $575 million.
A stalking-horse bid is an initial bid on a bankrupt company's assets from an interested buyer, which is chosen by the bankrupt company. From a pool of bidders, the bankrupt company chooses the stalking horse to make the first bid. The offer remains open to other bidders, but they must surpass the initial offer if they want to buy the company. The auction was scheduled for Jan. 30, but in the end there was no auction as no qualified bids were submitted by the deadline of Jan. 25, Performance said.
Performance will seek the approval of the courts for the sale of the company at the final sale hearing, scheduled for Feb. 6. The anticipated closing is expected to occur on or about Feb. 23, but no later than Feb. 27, according to the company.
The business being sold includes the Bauer, Cascade, Combat, Easton, Mission and Maverik brand names. At the end of January, the company received court approval for the sale of Inaria, the maker of football apparel and equipment, back to Saverio Michielli, the brand's founder, for CAN$2.1 million (€1.50m-$1.61m). Inaria was not included in the asset purchase agreement covering the sale of Performance Sports Group to the group of investors led by Sagard Capital Partners and Fairfax Financial Holdings.
