 Poster: A snowHead
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Press release 26.05.17:
"........I wanted to share with you that Newell Brands announced today that it signed a definitive agreement to sell its Winter Sports businesses, inclusive of K2 Sports to Kohlberg & Company, LLC.
Kohlberg & Company, LLC is a leading private equity firm with many years of successful experience investing in leading consumer branded companies. We believe that Kohlberg & Company, LLC is the right owner for K2 Sports and is well positioned to unlock their full potential and value. We are confident K2 Sports will continue to succeed under new ownership.......
Sincerely,
Robert Marcovitch
President and CEO
Newell Brands"
K2 Sports includes the K2, Volkl, Line, Ride, Morrow, Marker, Dalbello, Full Tilt & BCA brands.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Good? Bad? At least someone's bought them...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Corporate neglect as part of a business where no one really paid them much attention is a very different proposition from PE ownership. Some speculation that there will be purchasers lined up to flip the desirable bits to.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@under a new name, word on the street is it's all good, but haven't heard much beyond that
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@clarky999, that would be nice. Personally (selfishly) I would hate to see the dilution or demise of Völkl or Marmot.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Generally speaking, PE houses only invest where they see a return on their investment over a set period - usually 4-5 years - after which they'll look to offload. They will have seen growth opportunities here so this is probably good news.
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| slushy wrote: |
| Generally speaking, PE houses only invest where they see a return on their investment over a set period - usually 4-5 years - after which they'll look to offload. They will have seen growth opportunities here so this is probably good news. |
Or a break up value greater than the price paid. I wouldn't bet on quality engineering and innovation if they are being managed for cost control and as a cash cow. Clearly Volkl is still a desirable brand probably with Marker. K2 too. But the other stuff is I think questionable as to how much investment gets put into it.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, I wonder just what R&D budgets are applied to bindings (particularly) and skis. Clothing clearly needs to be kept up "to date" but that's presumably only seasonal colour rather than design changes mostly.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ride might make it, though I doubt Morrow will make the cut - most people don't know them and those who do recognise the name assume they went down years ago.
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I'd have thought one angle PE would explore is better integrating the businesses - leveraging the same manufacturing and R&D across the ski brands, integrating marker bindings into packages. I know there are costs to that (creativity, brand focus etc) but skillful management can mitigate that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| @under a new name, word on the street is it's all good...... |
Heard the same here.
There's still some questions to be answered re distribution, ie K2 Sports products are distributed in the UK by Pure Fishing Ltd which, I believe, is still a Newell owned company & I don't think that they've been bought as well. But they may have a agreement in place for them to continue to distribute for Kolhberg & Co. Will need to be sorted soon as 17/18 stock orders are due to be shipped in the autumn.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| jedster wrote: |
| I'd have thought one angle PE would explore is better integrating the businesses - leveraging the same manufacturing and R&D across the ski brands, integrating marker bindings into packages..... |
I believe that R&D is currently seperate but combined manufacturing for K2, Line & Volkl has been in place for a number of years (China?) & I think that Marker bindings are as heavily 'packaged' as they can be. Same with their distribution with another group company taking all of their products to market. Volkl R&D is in Germany but AFAIK, the only skis that Volkl still make in Germany are their race models. Many suggest that Volkl build quality is not what it used to be & I'd agree with that relative to their price positioning.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| slushy wrote: |
| Generally speaking, PE houses only invest where they see a return on their investment over a set period - usually 4-5 years - after which they'll look to offload. They will have seen growth opportunities here so this is probably good news. |
Or a break up value greater than the price paid. I wouldn't bet on quality engineering and innovation if they are being managed for cost control and as a cash cow. Clearly Volkl is still a desirable brand probably with Marker. K2 too. But the other stuff is I think questionable as to how much investment gets put into it. |
I would think Dalbello would be safe too - speaking to people at ISPO general consensus seems to be (at least within the industry/freeride ski brands) that they're making the best boots out there atm (never tried a pair).
Full Tilt might be more nervous... Total speculation, but while they have a cult following, it's mostly among the younger newschoolers types, who if we're honest probably don't have cash to be buying a new pair every season. OTOH, if Kolhberg & Co did look to get rid of them, they might be attractive to Amer now they have Armada...
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You know it makes sense.
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@spyderjon, the wife's new this season Mantras very defo say, "Made in Germany" on them...
Build quality was certainly a huge issue in the last few years. I believe it was better this year.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| under a new name wrote: |
| @spyderjon, the wife's new this season Mantras very defo say, "Made in Germany" on them... |
Interesting. The earlier Mantra's were still made in Germany when the manufacturing switched (ie same construction as the Racetiger GS) but then I believe they moved them as well as I had some in for service (& delam repair) were the "Made in Germany" markings had gone. Looks like they've gone back in-house which I'm sure is a good thing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
Interesting. The earlier Mantra's were still made in Germany when the manufacturing switched (ie same construction as the Racetiger GS) but then I believe they moved them as well as I had some in for service (& delam repair) were the "Made in Germany" markings had gone. Looks like they've gone back in-house which I'm sure is a good thing.
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Yeah noticed while fondling skis in ski shops (as you do  ) that generally the more expensive models say made in Germany and the cheaper ones are made in China.
It seemed to me that volkl, K2 and Line look to use a wider range of construction techniques than say Rossi/Dynastar - they seem less integrated. But it could be that they are just doing a better job of hiding common architecture to a layman like me.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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They will just cut jobs and R&D and marketing and selfpay bonuses from the extra profits and then flip it on to someone else in 2 or 3 years.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@jedster, ...less integrated. Indeed they are.
Ten years ago a top pro friend of ours went to the Volkl factory. He saw an ancient, short man rearranging all the wooden cores to the top end skis. He appeared to spend all his time simply moving the wooden cores backwards and forwards against a wall. Bemused, he finally asked what the hell was going on. His factory guide said with utter calmness and Germanic precision - '...his job is to match the physical characteristics of the skis, so that they are true pairs - the spring of the wood, the resilience and so forth...this is a most important job and an essential part of the production process....'.
Since all the volkls I have skied tend to track like trains, I suspect this is deep competence rather than deep mysticism.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@valais2, even in factory race department world, which we mortals will never see or ski the skis are skied on by high level ex racers and allocated to grades - WC, Europa, etc - and even to individual skiers...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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My 2015 Mantra's were made in Germany, the 2016 Kendo's that replaced them were too, as were SWMBO's 2017 Kenja's, it could be as jedster, says some are made in Germany and lesser models made in China, or we just got lucky.
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FAQ
