Providence Equity Partners, the private equity firm owner of IRONMAN, is understood to be exploring options for the company. According to a report by Reuters, this could include a potential sale or initial public offering (IPO).
Reuters reports that WTC has held talks with investment banks in recent weeks about appointing advisers that will help it explore its options. WTC reportedly has annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of more than US$50 million. The Reuters report adds that the company could be valued at more than 10 times that amount, including debt.
In 2008, private equity firm Providence Equity Partners became the owner of WTC (via the World Endurance Holdings entity) and with it took ownership of the IRONMAN brand and other properties, such as IronGirl, IronKids and the 5150 series.
Last summer, Ironman brand owner WTC took out US$240 million in financing. The majority of this, US$220 million, was be used to pay out a dividend to its shareholders. The financing deal raised a few eyebrows in some media reports, which focused on the use of the debt/financing predominantly to pay out a dividend rather than fund capital investment for the company.
According to a report on Fortune.com, following Ironman’s US$240 million financing round, Standard & Poor’s attached a ‘B’ rating on the debt, ‘because of the company’s exposure if the economy sours.’
Moody’s meanwhile assigned a B2 corporate family rating on the debt indicating that the ‘outlook is stable’ for the business. Moody’s reflected on IRONMAN’s ‘highly predictable and recurring revenue, strong brand loyalty and good free cash flow generation due to its minimal capital requirements.’
In 2014 and 2015, WTC has made a number of acquisitions to bolster its event offering and become a sizeable global business. Recent deals include:
2015
- In January 2015, IRONMAN acquired multiple events from Firstwave Events meaning that IRONMAN now owns and operates the Big Kahuna Triathlon and Santa Cruz Half Marathon/10K/5K. The Big Kahuna triathlon will be rebranded as IRONMAN 70.3 Santa Cruz and will take place on Sunday 13 September 2015.
This acquisition followed hot on the heels of two key deals in January:
- IRONMAN’s acquisition of multiple events from SUPERFROG, including the SUPERFROG, SUPER SEAL and SEAL Sprint triathlons; and
- IRONMAN’s acquisition of Optimum Sports Events, organizer of the Challenge Vichy triathlon and the Vichy Half Triathlon in France.
2014
- In May 2014, IRONMAN confirmed that it had acquired New Zealand’s largest road race, the Auckland Marathon.
- Also in May 2014, Ironman confirmed that Victoria, British Columbia, will host the 31st race in the Ironman 70.3 North American Series and that IRONMAN has signed an agreement to acquire Lifesport Properties, owners of the Subaru Western Triathlon Series.
- In mid-April 2014 IRONMAN acquired Tritlon Spain SL, ‘owner and organizer of Challenge Barcelona and Half Challenge Barcelona.’ These races will now be operated as Ironman Barcelona and Ironman 70.3 Barcelona.
- The April announcement of the new IRONMAN Maryland event was made in connection with IRONMAN’s then proposed acquisition of the ChesapeakeMan event from The Columbia Triathlon Association, also known as TriColumbia.
www.ironman.com
www.provequity.com
