Acushnet, which owns golf brands Titleist and FootJoy, filed for an IPO yesterday, "despite a recent downturn in golf play in the U.S.," according to Austen Hufford of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Acushnet plans to "use ticker symbol 'GOLF' and seeks to raise" as much as $100M for its shareholders who are selling the shares to the public (WSJ.com, 6/20). GOLF DIGEST's Mike Stachura noted Acushnet has seen an "increase in net sales" from $1.34B in '11 to a year-end number of $1.5B for '15. By comparison, Callaway, golf's "only other publicly traded equipment company," generated just shy of $900M in net sales in '15. Acushnet's filing with the SEC details that 36% of its net sales "come from Titleist golf balls," 26% came from Titleist clubs and 28% came from FootJoy. The shares of common stock "will be sold by the existing stockholders of Acushnet, a group that includes its current primary owner of shares Fila Korea Ltd., which purchased Acushnet" for $1.23B in '11. Yesterday's announcement "indicated no proposed number of shares or price range" (GOLFDIGEST.com, 6/20). In San Diego, Mike Freeman notes the IPO "comes at a tough time for companies trying to go public." Only 38 IPOs "have priced in the U.S. so far this year," down 58% from '15 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/21).
