The online sports trading platform Signa Sports United is going public on the New York Stock Exchange via the back door. The company, which is majority owned by the Austrian investor Rene Benko, is planning an IPO through a SPAC transaction. The company announced today. The company is valued at 3.2 billion dollars (2.63 billion euros)
A SPAC (“Special Purpose Acquisition Company”) is a corporate shell that is already listed on the stock exchange and that merges with an unlisted company. In the case of Signa Sports, this is the US company Yucaipa Acquisition.
Yucaipa is bringing $ 345 million in equity into the company, which specializes in cycling, tennis, team sports and outdoor clothing. Signa Sports will also receive $ 300 million from a capital increase from investors participating in the SPAC transaction.
Purchase from Wiggle bicycle dealer
Signa Sports will use part of the proceeds to purchase the British online bicycle retailer Wiggle. Its owner, the financial investor Bridgepoint, will also become a shareholder in Signa Sports as part of the deal. The online trade in sporting goods, including bicycles, grew rapidly during the crisis.
Signa Sports wanted to go public on the capital market as early as 2018, but then decided on a private financing round. Since then, the Japanese retail group Aeon and the Asian Central Group as well as the German R + V insurance group have been involved.
All of them will remain shareholders of Signa Sports after the SPAC transaction. Numerous properties and the department store group Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof belong to Benko’s Signa group of companies.
80 online shops
According to its own information, Signa Sports is the world’s largest pure online sporting goods retailer and operates more than 80 internet shops in 17 countries and has over seven million online customers every year. Including its most recent acquisitions, the company expects operating profit of approximately $ 70 million and sales of $ 1.6 billion for the 2020/21 fiscal year ending in September.
Revenues are expected to grow by more than 25 percent annually over the next five years. The profit margin should triple to twelve to 15 percent in the long term.
–
–
