Wilson racket maker Amer Sports rises up to 6% after $1.37 billion IPO

Amer Sports Inc. stock rose as much as 6.2% above its US initial public offering price after its first-time share sale priced below a marketed range.

Shares in the maker of Wilson tennis rackets and Salomon ski boots were trading at $13.61 each as of 1:14 p.m. on Thursday in New York, above the IPO price of $13 each. The company raised $1.37 billion on Wednesday, with about 60% of the IPO sold to three members of the consortium that acquired the company in 2019, Bloomberg News has reported.

Amer Sports’s IPO is the biggest since Birkenstock Holding Plc’s $1.48 billion listing last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The early trading gives the company a market value of about $6.6 billion. 

Consortium members Anta Sports Products Ltd., Anamered Investments Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy shares at the offering price, according to the company’s filings. Anamered is the investment firm of Chip Wilson, founder of yoga-apparel retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc.

The Anta-led consortium acquired Amer Sports for about $5.2 billion in 2019 as part of an effort to bring high-end athletic equipment to China’s increasingly wealthy middle class.

The disappointing result may chill the IPO market’s nascent recovery. Last week, KKR & Co.-backed BrightSpring Health Services Inc. fell short of its IPO goal, raising only $693 million in the first-time share sale after seeking as much as $960 million. Shares of BrightSpring, which also sold about $400 million tangible equity units in connection with the offering, are about 14% below the IPO price.

Amer Sports is backed by China’s largest athletic-apparel producer, Anta Sports Products Ltd. It owns brands including Louisville Slugger baseball bats, Arc’teryx outdoor gear and Atomic winter equipment.

Amer Sports had a net loss of about $115.6 million on revenue of $3.05 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 30, according to the filings. The company, with offices in Helsinki, Munich, Krakow and Shanghai, has more than 10,800 employees globally, the filings show.

Amer Sports’ IPO was led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley. The company’s shares are trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AS.