Wilson parent company Amer Sports files to go public

In news timed perfectly to its primetime spotlight at the US Open, athletic gear company Amer Sports, owner of tennis racket maker Wilson, confidentially filed for an IPO in the US that could value it at $10 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The company hopes the IPO will raise more than $1 billion, though it could seek up to $3 billion, sources told the outlet, which first reported that Amer’s investors were considering an IPO last December. The company plans to list early next year. Amer Sports declined to comment when Retail Brew reached out.

In 2019, four co-investors acquired Amer Sports for $5.2 billion, including Chinese sports retail giant Anta Sports. Finland-based Amer, which is more than 70 years old, operates 12 brands and has 10,200 employees. It began as a tobacco company, expanded into shipping, and had a publishing and printing division before turning its focus to sports in the 1970s, buying Wilson in 1989, shoemaker Salomon in 2005, and baseball bat company Louisville Slugger in 2015. Last year, the company’s revenue rose 22% to $3.3 billion, per its annual report.

• The 110-year-old Wilson has recently made a push into DTC as well as focused on growing its own brick-and-mortar footprint, opening its first store in Chicago in 2021 and a 6,400-square-foot New York City flagship store last year.

Zoom out: After a banner year in 2021, when companies like Warby Parker and Allbirds went public, the IPO market has since cooled off amid economic uncertainty. But this summer, it started to heat back up.

Instacart, which had shelved its IPO ambitions last year, finally filed to go public last month. In July, online beauty retailer Oddity Tech, owner of Il Makiage, secured $424 million at a $2.7 billion valuation in its public market debut, while fast casual restaurant chain Cava raised $318 million with a valuation of $2.45 billion when it went public in June.