WESTPORT, Conn. — On Nov. 2, Connecticut-based Compass Diversified (CODI) announced it has agreed to sell Wheelhouse Holdings, the parent company of Marucci Sports, to Georgia-based Fox Factory Holding Corp. for $572 million. Marucci is a Baton Rouge-based maker of baseball bats that are popular among major league players. The company was founded by two former professional players and their trainer in 2004.
CODI, which bought Marucci in 2020, said it expects to realize a pre-tax gain on the sale of between $225 million to $245 million.
“We are very proud of the growth Marucci has seen under our ownership and feel fortunate to have been able to partner with the Marucci management team,” said Elias Sabo, Compass CEO, in a press release. “We acquired the business in April 2020 based on our confidence in Marucci’s brand and management team. This was at a time when few transactions were being completed due to the pandemic, yet our flexible capital structure allowed us to execute in times of uncertainty and generate value for our shareholders. Since then, the Marucci team has acted decisively, growing its core business and gaining share in new markets like fielding gloves and softball. Additionally, we expanded the Marucci product portfolio through the acquisitions of Lizard Skins and Baum Bat. Thank you to Kurt and the entire Marucci team for their contributions over the last several years, and we wish them nothing but continued success.”
“We are grateful for our partnership with the CODI team and look forward to further growth under Fox’s ownership,” said Kurt Ainsworth, co-founder and CEO of Marucci Sports. “Fox’s enthusiast culture, coupled with its focus on driving growth through strong brands, highly engineered products and disruptive technologies fits well with our values and mission. We look forward to leveraging their innovation and growth success as we expand our sales reach and breadth. We thank CODI for their relentless support during our partnership.”
The transaction is expected to close this month.
Jefferies LLC is the financial advisor to CODI and Ropes & Gray and Jones Walker are acting as legal counsel. Squire Patton Boggs (US) is acting as legal counsel to Fox.
