Bravo Sports, a portfolio company of Transom Capital and St. Cloud Capital, has acquired skateboard company Dwindle Distribution from Globe International.
Dwindle is a skateboard designer, manufacturer and distributor. The company’s brand names include Almost, Blind, Darkstar, Dusters, Enjoi, Speed Demons, Superior, and Tensor Trucks.
Dwindle, through Shenzhen, China-based Douglas Street Manufacturing, also supplies skateboard parts to skateboard OEM’s. The company is based near Los Angeles in El Segundo, CA (www.dwindle.com).
Bravo Sports’ products include scooters, skateboards, skates, helmets, gloves, graphics, racewear for motocross and mountain bike riders, as well as sun shades and canopies. Company-owned brand names include Kryptonics, Pulse Performance Products, Circle Society, Sector 9, Pro-tec, Nutcase and SixSixOne. Bravo’s products are sold through the mass merchant, sporting goods and big box retail channels.
Transom Capital acquired Bravo Sports in June 2015 when it merged the company with its existing portfolio company, One Industries – a motocross and mountain bike products company – which it had acquired in July 2013. Bravo Sports, led by President Nick Schultz, was founded in 1965 and is headquartered near Los Angeles in Santa Fe Springs, CA (www.bravosportscorp.com).
“I am very excited to welcome the Dwindle portfolio of brands to the Bravo Sports family,” said Mr. Schultz. “Dwindle, as a leading premium skateboard company, will be integrated into Bravo’s specialty division, Highline Industries. Highline also includes leading skateboarding specialty brands, Sector 9 and Pro-tec. Together, these highly complementary brands make Highline a market leader that is poised to capitalize on the resurgence of the skateboard category.”
“We are thrilled to add Dwindle Distribution to our Bravo Sports investment platform,” said James Oh, a partner at Transom. “Being a leader in the skateboard category in mass and specialty distribution channels and augmenting our brand portfolio towards the premium part of the market is exciting. Furthermore, we believe that this acquisition clearly makes Bravo Sports an industry leader.”
Transom invests in buyouts and turnarounds of companies with EBITDAs from $0 (special situations) to $20 million. In January 2018, the firm held a final closing of Transom Capital Fund III LP with $300 million of capital commitments. The new fund reached its hard-cap in just two months of fundraising and was oversubscribed from its initial $250 million target and $300 million hard-cap. Transom is headquartered near Los Angeles in El Segundo, CA (www.transomcapital.com).
St. Cloud Capital, which invested in Bravo Sports in June 2015, makes both control and non-control investments in lower middle-market companies that have annual revenues between $10 million and $150 million. The firm typically invests from $5 million to $15 million per transaction in senior secured debt, subordinated debt, and preferred and common stock. St. Cloud Capital is based in Los Angeles (www.stcloudcapital.com).
Globe International (ASX: GLB), the seller of Dwindle, is a producer and distributor of apparel, footwear and skateboard hardgoods (including decks, wheels, and trucks) for the boardsports, street fashion and workwear markets. Globe’s revenues last fiscal year were $159 million. The company was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia (www.globecorporate.com).
D.A. Davidson was the financial advisor to Globe International on this transaction.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | August 29, 2019
