Norwest Equity Partners has made an investment in Christy Sports, a retailer of ski and snowboard equipment and during the its off-season operates an outdoor furniture retail business.
Christy Sports is a specialty retailer of ski and snowboard equipment, apparel, and accessories and also provides custom fitting, mounting, tuning and repair services. The company has 40 retail stores located in resorts and ski areas across Colorado and Utah and operates multiple e-commerce sites. In addition to the retail merchandise available in its stores, Christy provides ski and snowboard rental services. During the off-season, Christy operates an outdoor furniture retail business that allows it to use its operational infrastructure, employees and distribution facilities. Christy Sports was founded in 1958 and currently employs about 650 people. The company is headquartered in the Denver suburb of Lakewood (www.christysports.com).
“We are excited to work with CEO Patrick O’Winter and his management team to grow the business through geographic expansion and add-on acquisitions and feel confident that the combination of our capital and industry expertise will help Christy Sports to continue gaining market share,” said Todd Solow, a NEP partner.
Norwest Equity Partners (NEP) makes equity investments of $30 million to $150 million in companies operating in the agriculture, applied technology, business services, consumer products and services, distribution, diversified industrials, and healthcare sectors. In April 2015, NEP closed Norwest Equity Partners X, LP, a new $1.6 billion fund and Norwest Mezzanine Partners IV, LP, a new $800 million fund formed by NEP’s affiliated mezzanine investment firm, Norwest Mezzanine Partners (NMP). Norwest Equity Partners is headquartered in Minneapolis (www.nep.com).
ICR Partners (www.icrinc.com) was the financial advisor to Christy Sports and Goldberg Kohn (www.goldbergkohn.com) provided legal services. Winston & Strawn (www.winston.com) provided legal services to NEP.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 10-29-15