its official skidoo stays in the family sort of
Amsnow
We had been told that the sale of the Bombardier Recreational Products group was expected to be announced by the end of the summer. Well, August 27th is the end of summer and the sale is pending- per an agreement between a group of investors comprised of the Bombardier family and American private equity firm Bain Capital. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a financial institution that manages funds for public and private pension and insurance plans, confirms that the $1.225-billion Cdn. offer of a corporation formed by them to purchase Bombardier Recreational Products has been accepted by Bombardier Inc.
Bain Capital will hold 50% of the new corporation, the Bombardier family 35% and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec 15%.
Mr. Laurent Beaudoin, spokesperson for the Bombardier family, said that he was proud to have attracted such high-calibre investors to form the acquisition group.
"We are very happy to have the opportunity to continue to be associated with this heritage asset that was at the foundation of the development of one of Canada's largest companies," said Beaudoin.
"With the help of our 7,600 employees, we intend to reinforce our leadership in our current business sectors, as well as develop new market niches." Beaudoin stressed the high quality employee relations at all levels at Bombardier Recreational Products.
"Bombardier Recreational Products is known for manufacturing innovative, exciting and quality products, and has an extensive catalog of strong brands that resonates extremely well with consumers," said Matt Levin, Managing Director at Bain Capital. "We look forward to building on Bombardier Recreational Products' successful 60-year history and to the company's long term strategic growth potential as an independent business."
"Our analysis of the new company's potential was conclusive and consistent with that done by the private investors involved in the transaction. Moreover, the involvement of a major American private equity firm, Bain Capital, and that of the Bombardier family are important factors in the company's success," stated Henri-Paul Rousseau, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Rousseau also said that the investment was in line with the Caisse's role as a fund manager holding minority interests.
Bombardier Recreational Products designs, develops, builds, distributes and markets Sea-Doo" watercraft and sport boats, Ski-Doo" and Lynx" snowmobiles, Johnson" and Evinrude" outboard engines, Evinrude direct injection and Evinrude E-TEC" technologies, Bombardier ™ ATVs, Rotax ™ engines and karts, as well as utility vehicles.
Bain Capital, which has more than $23 billion Cdn. in assets under management, has strong experience in a variety of industries and with "carve- out" transactions in which non-core businesses or assets of corporations are purchased by private investors. With a 19-year investment history, the firm has made a number of investments in retail and consumer products companies, including Shoppers Drug Mart, Sealy, Domino's Pizza, and Staples.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds for public and private pension and insurance plans. The Caisse strives to obtain an optimal financial return for its depositors and clients. Through CDP Capital, the leading fund manager in Canada with almost $130 billion Cdn. of assets under management, it invests in the main liquid markets as well as in private equity and real estate.
Completion of this transaction is subject to certain purchase price adjustments, execution of definitive acquisition and financing documentation and to the approval of all required governmental authorities and to other consents and other usual conditions. It is expected that the transaction will be closed by mid-fall 2003.
Bottom Line? For us consumers, everything should remain pretty much the same as before. We expect to see an extremely fit, trim, and exceedingly aggressive Ski-Doo engineering, marketing and design team pushing forward new products at an accelerated rate as they work to keep the Ski-Doo name #1 in snowmobiles.