Fenway Partners

Last updated
Fenway Partners
Type Private
Industry Private Equity
Founded1994;30 years ago (1994)
FounderRichard Dresdale, Peter Lamm
Headquarters New York, New York, United States
Products Leveraged buyout, Growth capital
Total assets $2.1 billion [1]
Number of employees
25+
Website www.fenwaypartners.com

Fenway Partners is an American private equity firm that makes leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in transportation logistics, consumer products, and manufacturing companies in the middle market. In 2002 Fenway acquired the molding equipment and customer base of Premier Tile. The price for the acquisition was $8.25 million. The firm was founded in 1994 by Richard Dresdale (formerly Clayton, Dubilier & Rice) and Peter Lamm (formerly Butler Capital Partners) and has over $2 billion of capital under management. Since its inception, the firm has raised three private equity funds. Fenway's first fund closed on approximately $525 million of capital commitments in 1996 and just two years later, in 1998, the firm raised an additional $900 million of capital. As a result of several investments made in the 1998 fund, before the collapse of the dot-com bubble, performance in that fund was affected. Nevertheless, the firm was able to raise a successor fund in 2006 and 2007 with approximately $700 million of commitments from institutional investors.

Contents

Investments

Among the firms, the most notable investments are Targus, 1-800 Contacts, Coach America, [2] Riddell, Bell Sports, and Easton.

Targus Corporation

Fenway Partners acquired Targus Group International, an Anaheim, California-based company, for $382.5 million on November 22, 2005. [3] During the acquisition of Targus, the managing director at Fenway Partners, Timothy Mayhew, was quoted saying; “Targus has many of the elements Fenway looks for, including a leading market position, a diversified revenue base with high barriers to entry, strong free cash flow and dynamic industry characteristics.” [4] Targus was the original creator of carrying cases for portable computers and have since expanded into multiple electronics accessories including; backpacks, locks, keyboards and keypads, privacy screens, to name a few, [5] and most recently with their acquisition of Sena, a high quality leather case maker, into the market of cases for smart phones. [6]

1-800 Contacts

In 2007, Fenway Partners acquired 1-800 Contacts, a vendor and distributor of brand name contact lens, located in Draper, Utah. [7] The price set for the acquisition of 1-800 Contacts was at premium of 21% over the highest reported share value within the last year and 34% over the closing price within the last month. [8] In total, the purchase price was valued at $340 million. [9]

On June 20, 2012, Co-Founder of Fenway Partners, Peter Lamm, was quoted stating “We are very pleased with the outcome of our investment in 1-800 Contacts” after Fenway Partners sold 1-800 Contacts to WellPoint Inc., a health benefits firm, for approximately $900 million. [7]

Riddell Sports Group

On July 7, 2003, Fenway Partners proudly announced their acquisition of Riddell Sports Group, a sporting goods manufacturer. Riddell helmets are worn by more than 85% of NFL players, and in 2002 they released the first computer engineered football helmet in its efforts to help reduce concussions among athletes. As the leading manufacturer of football helmets, among other products such as pads and collectible replica items, Riddell posted revenues of over $100 million in 2002, the same figure for which it was acquired by Fenway Partners the following year. [10]

Bell Sports

Bell Sports, a helmet and apparel manufacturer, was acquired by Fenway Partners in August 2004. Bell was acquired for an estimated $240 million. [11] The purchase of Bell Sports, whose owner investors had planned to sell the company back in April, was powerful move for Fenway Partners as it planned to merge its newest asset with their recently acquired Riddell Sports Group. [12]

Among the firm's most notable realized investments are high-end jewelry retailer Harry Winston [13] [14] and the Simmons Bedding Company. [15] [16]

Mergers

Riddell Sports Group/Bell Sports

“This is a merger of strengths in a sense” stated Tim Mayhew, managing director for Fenway Partners, who acquired Riddell Sports Group in 2003, and Bell Sports in 2004. The purchase of Bell was very fitting in expanding Fenway’s market share in the sports industry. By combining both these industry leaders, Bell from action sports and Riddell from the football industry, the company will now have the largest research and development facility, based in Santa Cruz, California., geared towards head protection in the world. [11] Combined, these companies will now be producing over 8 million helmets a year and are expected to earn revenues upwards of $300 million in 2004. [11] CEO and president of Bell Sports, Bill Fry, was appointed to lead the combined companies’ management team due to his efforts in putting Bell back on top of its market since he joined in 2001. Bill Sherman, Riddell CEO will remain in his current position as well as serving on the board of directors in regards to the company. [12]

Riddell Bell Holdings/Easton Sports Inc.

Two years after the merger of Riddell and Bell, Fenway Partners proposed a merger with their newest entity Riddell Bell Holdings and Easton Sports Inc. Easton is a sporting goods industry leader with departments spanning from cycling to baseball, hockey, motocross and even archery. In the past Easton has consistently earned yearly revenues similar to those of Riddell Bell and as a combined entity is expected to break the $600 million mark. [17] Easton Sports Inc. was a subsidiary company of Jas D. Easton and its only subsidiary who was part of the merger. The head of Easton Sports, Jim Easton, was appointed Chair of the new combined entity. While the Riddel Bell merger earned Fenway a world leading position in research and development in their fields, this merger created a behemoth in the sporting goods industry which will be “unsurpassed” stated Bill Sherman CEO of Riddell. Anthony Palma, who served as Easton’s CEO and president until 2008, said about Fenway’s new prized entity; “This company is now the number one baseball company, the number one football company, the number one in bike helmets, number one in snow helmets and the number one hockey innovation company. Yeah, there's a lot of number ones here. We like that." [17]

Miscellaneous

The firm was named loosely about Fenway Park, but the firm is based in New York City and has no connections with the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, or Fenway Sports Group.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mergers and acquisitions</span> Type of corporate transaction

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect of strategic management, M&A can allow enterprises to grow or downsize, and change the nature of their business or competitive position.

The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and private credit. It is one of the largest mega-funds in the world. In 2015, Carlyle was the world's largest private equity firm by capital raised over the previous five years, according to the PEI 300 index. In the 2023 ranking however, it had slipped to fifth place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BCE Inc.</span> Canadian telecommunications and media company

BCE Inc., an abbreviation of its full name Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a corporate reorganization in 1983, when Bell Canada, Northern Telecom, and other related companies all became subsidiaries of Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., it is one of Canada's largest corporations. The company is headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the Verdun borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Swiss Bank Corporation was a Swiss investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. Prior to its merger, the bank was the third largest in Switzerland, with over CHF 300 billion of assets and CHF 11.7 billion of equity.

Dean Witter Reynolds was an American stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account executives and was among the largest members of the New York Stock Exchange. The company served over 3.2 million clients primarily in the U.S. Dean Witter provided debt and equity underwriting and brokerage as mutual funds and other saving and investment products for individual investors. The company's asset management arm, Dean Witter InterCapital, with total assets of $90.0 billion prior to the acquisition, was one of the largest asset management operations in the U.S.

Raymond James Morgan Keegan is the interim name of the former Morgan Keegan & Co. business units acquired by Raymond James Financial on April 2, 2012. The combined firms’ subsidiaries engage primarily in investment and financial planning, investment banking, fixed income products and asset management. The combined firms’ Fixed Income group is located in the former Morgan Keegan corporate headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apax Partners</span> British private equity firm

Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of December 2023, the firm had raised and advised funds of approximately $65 billion (USD). Apax Partners is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms operating on an international basis.

Bauer Hockey LLC is a manufacturer of ice hockey equipment, fitness and recreational skates and apparel. Bauer produces helmets, gloves, sticks, skates, shin guards, pants, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hockey jocks and compression underwear, as well as goalie equipment. Some of its equipment, such as its ice hockey skates, are also approved for use in the sport of ringette.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perella Weinberg Partners</span> U.S.-based financial services firm

Perella Weinberg Partners L.P. is an American global financial services firm focused on investment banking advisory services.

BRG Sports makes sports equipment and clothing under the Riddell brand. Its parent company is Fenway Partners.

Man GLG is a discretionary investment manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of British alternative investment manager Man Group plc. It is a diversified and multi-strategy fund manager that operates strategies including equity long-short funds, convertible arbitrage funds, emerging market funds and long-only mutual funds. The firm is also a founding member of the Hedge Fund Standards Board and a signatory of the Principles for Responsible investment. As of 2022, Man GLG had $35.4 billion assets under management.

Riddell Sports Group is an American company specializing in sports equipment for American football. It was headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois. In 2017, the company relocated to a new facility in adjacent Des Plaines, Illinois.

Lincolnshire Management is a private equity firm focused on investments and acquisitions in middle-market companies across a range of industries. In 2010, Private Equity News ranked Lincolnshire as a top ten performing private equity firm. Additionally, In 2011, CNN Money /Fortune Magazine ranked Lincolnshire Management as the 5th ranked private equity firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shearson, Hammill & Co.</span>

Shearson, Hammill & Co. was a Wall Street brokerage and investment banking firm founded in 1902 by Edward Shearson and Caleb Wild Hammill. The firm originally built its business as a stock broker as well as a broker of various commodities, particularly grain and cotton. The firm was a member of the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, originally Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill, was an American investment banking and brokerage firm founded in 1960 and acquired by American Express in 1981. In its two decades as an independent firm, Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt served as a vehicle for the rollup of more than a dozen brokerage and securities firms led by Sanford I. Weill that culminated in the formation of Shearson Loeb Rhoades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exor (company)</span> Investment company incorporated in Netherlands

Exor N.V. is a Dutch holding company incorporated in the Netherlands and controlled by the Agnelli family through privately held company Giovanni Agnelli B.V. In 2021, it recorded revenues of more than $136 billion, with a net asset value of around $31 billion, becoming the 37th largest group in the world by revenue according to the 2021 Fortune Global 500 list. It has a history of investments running over a century, which currently include auto and truck manufacturers Stellantis, Ferrari, and Iveco, agricultural and construction firm CNH Industrial, the association football club Juventus, the international newspaper The Economist, and the Italian media company GEDI Gruppo Editoriale. In May 2023, Exor launched its investment management company Lingotto.

Jas. D. Easton, Inc. is a manufacturer of archery equipment. The company was started by James D. (Doug) Easton in 1922. His son James (Jim) L. Easton took over the company following his death in 1972. The independent, family owned archery division consists of two companies, Hoyt Archery, Inc. and Easton Technical Products, both located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The two companies employ approximately 800 people in the manufacture of compound bows, recurve bows, and arrows. Easton arrows have been used to win every Olympic Games title in archery since the restoration of archery to the Olympic program in 1972. Easton Technical Products is also a supplier to the military, medical and outdoor sports industries for high-strength carbon fiber and aluminum alloy tubing. Hoyt and Easton are run as independent divisions of Jas. D. Easton, Inc. Greg Easton is the third generation President of Jas. D. Easton.

Conning is a global investment management firm serving the insurance industry. Conning supports institutional investors, including pension plans, with investment and asset management products, risk modeling software, and industry research. Founded in 1912, Conning has offices in Boston, Cologne, Hartford, Hong Kong, London, New York and Tokyo.

DFO Management is an American family office that manages the capital of Michael Dell and his family. The firm, which is based in New York and has offices in Santa Monica and West Palm Beach, was formed in 1998.

HGGC is an American middle-market private equity firm based in Palo Alto, California, with over $7 billion of cumulative capital commitments. Since its inception in 2007, HGGC has completed transactions with an aggregate transaction value of $50 billion. The firm was named 2014 M&A Mid-Market Private Equity Firm of the Year by Mergers & Acquisitions magazine.

References

  1. ↑ Based on capital raised since inception. Source: Private Equity Intelligence
  2. ↑ Coach America bought by Fenway Partners Archived 2008-12-25 at the Wayback Machine . AltAssets, 2006
  3. ↑ http://www.fenwaypartners.com/uploads/news33.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  4. ↑ "US Fenway to acquire mobile computing cases specialist Targus for $382.5m". AltAssets. September 30, 2005.
  5. ↑ "Targus Canada: Laptop Bags, Tablet Cases, Computer Accessories & More".
  6. ↑ Lauren Goode (October 30, 2012). "Gadget-Case Maker Targus Acquires Sena Cases". All Things Digital.
  7. 1 2 "WellPoint Acquires 1-800 Contacts From Fenway Partners For Up To US$900 Million". ResearchViews. June 4, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ "1-800 CONTACTS to be acquired by Fenway Partners for $24.25 per share". Reuters. June 4, 2007.
  9. ↑ David Goldman (June 6, 2007). "US firm Fenway to acquire 1-800 CONTACTS". AltAssets.
  10. ↑ "Fenway Partners Acquires Riddell Sports Group". PR Newswire. July 7, 2003.
  11. 1 2 3 "News". Billboard .
  12. 1 2 "Fenway Partners Set To Merge Bell & Riddell Sports Groups". SportsBusiness Daily. August 13, 2004. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  13. ↑ New Partners Hope to Expand Harry Winston. New York Times, 2000
  14. ↑ ABER DIAMOND OF CANADA BUYS CONTROL OF HARRY WINSTON. New York Times, 2004
  15. ↑ FENWAY BUYING 71% OF SIMMONS FOR $500 MILLION. New York Times, 1998
  16. ↑ CONTROL OF MATTRESS MAKER SOLD FOR $1.1 BILLION. New York Times, 2003
  17. 1 2 Brent Hopkins (February 9, 2006). "Easton Sports merges with Riddell Bell". Deseret News.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.