Salomon-Owner Amer Sports' IPO Falls Short of Expectations
The company’s shares, which were forecasted to sell for $16 USD to $18 USD, went for $13 USD each.
Amer Sports — the parent company to brands including Salomon, Arc’Teryx and Wilson — raised $1.6 billion USD in its NYSE initial public offering (IPO), selling 105 million shares at $13 USD each to reach a valuation of $6.3 billion USD.
The hotly-anticipated IPO, which marked the largest listing in fashion since Birkenstock’s IPO last year, fell short of the expected range of $16 USD to $18 USD per share. If Amer Sports had secured the forecasted figures, it would have earned a valuation of approximately $8 billion USD. The IPO’s pricing did, however, land higher than the $5.2 billion USD that was spent in the brand’s 2019 acquisition, led by Chinese label Anta Sports.
Despite the company’s positive growth over the last four years, investors posed concerns about Amer’s dependence on revenue from China, its absence of profits and the sizable $2.1 billion USD debut that the company reported, according to Business of Fashion. Challenging market conditions did not help Amer’s case, either.
“Investors are expecting the market to remain very volatile in the first half of 2024 … so that’s a very difficult time to be coming in with a strong IPO as a retail company,” Jessica Ramirez, a senior research analyst at Jane Hali & Associates, told the outlet.
Per Amer Sports’ IPO registration, Salomon recorded revenues of over $1 billion USD in 2022, while Arc’teryx earned sales of $952.6 million USD in the same period. The company did not reveal full-year data for Wilson, though it did state that the tennis brand raked in revenues of $866.3 million USD in the first nine months of 2023.
Looking ahead, Amer Sports aims to raise its total annual revenue to surpass $5 billion USD.
