Easton-Bell Sports, the new company coming out of the merger between Riddell Bell and Easton, will have sales of more than $600 million including some $240 million from Easton, the leading U.S. supplier of baseball bats, hockey and archery equipment. Riddell Bell had revenues of $328 million last year on a pro forma basis, comprising Riddell’s American football helmets and its previous acquired Bell/Giro cycling and snow helmet businesses. Jim Easton, founder of the company that bears his name, will act as chairman of the new company but there has been no announcement of who will be the chief executive.
Fenway Partners, which controls substantially all of Riddell Bell, paid $385 million for Easton. Jim Easton will get a minority interest in the combined company valued at $25 million. Easton is thought to have had operating profit (EBITDA) of more than $35 million in 2005, compared with $34.4 million for Riddell through first nine months of the year.
The two companies will maintain their existing distribution structures, but there will be synergies in R&D, materials purchasing and logistics. While Easton has a significant presence in Canada, it can do more in Europe. At Easton Canada in Montreal, which acts as the company’s international sales hub, Scott Corbett was recently promoted as European hockey sales and brand manager, after serving as Canadian hockey sales manager for the past five years. He replaced Luc Leboeuf, who will be in charge of retail sales in Quebec. Jason Brown takes over the position of Canadian hockey sales manager.
