Carlyle Group buys Italian motorcycle gear maker Dainese
Investcorp (the Bahrain Sovereign Investment fund/BIC), who bought Dainese from founder Lino Dainese in 2014 (for € 130m), has judged that the time is right to do what most private equity investors do with their acquisitions sooner or later - take the profit and "flip the asset".
In a deal said to be worth some € 630m ($692m) including debt, the new owner is Washington D.C. headquartered private equity investor The Carlyle Group (CG.O).
During its ownership, Investcorp says it more than doubled Dainese's sales to € 250m and expanded core earnings (EBITDA) at a double-digit rate annually.
Lino Dainese is credited with many firsts, not least the back protector, knee sliders and the wearable Air Bag. He diversified his business by adding the legendary, 1947 founded Italian AGV helmet brand in 2007.
After the 2014 sale of Dainese to Investcorp, TCX Boots (formerly Oxtar, founded as a Jolly Scarpe spin-off by the Zanatta family/Novation) was added to the Dainese/AGV line-up in 2020 (from Keyhaven Capital Partners, who at that staged had owned Novation for three years or so).
With apologies to anyone - by the name of Zanatta or otherwise - if that brief history is wrong anywhere along the line, but the Oxtar/TCX success story hasn't come without its challenges, not least in courts at the hands of Alpinestars - a drama-play that Dainese itself has stories about too!
These days, Dainese employs over 1,000 people and has its own network of flagship stores as well as importers/distributors and dealers, and still sells in adjacent leisure markets such as skiing. Carlyle says it wants to "expand the business in China and the United States by building up Dainese's distribution network and further deals. Founded in Washington DC in 1982 and headed up by New York based CEO Kewsong Lee, The Carlyle Group has $301bn of assets under management, including $162bn of private equity investments, with 26 offices employing nearly 1,850 people across five continents, operating some 456 investment vehicles in three primary business segments.
Compared to Investcorp, they may not have their own oil wells, but they are not trivial!
Equity for the investment will be provided by Carlyle Europe Partners (CEP) V, a € 6.4bn fund investing in European opportunities across a range of sectors and industries. The investment in Dainese builds on Carlyle's long-term global focus on Consumer, a sector in which the firm has invested more than $20bn to date. A core component of Carlyle's strategy has been to grow brands, such as Moncler, Golden Goose, Design Holding and END, through international expansion.
Massimiliano Caraffa, Managing Director leading Consumer and Retail for the Carlyle Europe Partners' advisory team, said: "We were attracted by Dainese's strong brand, its long heritage and record of leadership in innovation."
"Leveraging our global network and expertise in scaling consumer brands, we are excited to support Dainese in the next chapter of its growth journey, building upon its distinctive customer-centric 'head-to-toe' product offering and unmatched technical excellence."
Former Ducati executive Cristiano Silei, who has been CEO at Dainese Group since it was bought by Investcorp, said: "In Carlyle, I am delighted that we have found a partner that understands and appreciates the core values and vision for growth of the Group. With its track record and expertise in this sector, I am confident that we have found the ideal partner to help achieve our ambitious goals for growth and further internationalisation."
