Centroid Investment Partners, a Seoul-based private equity firm, has selected JPMorgan and Jefferies as lead managers for the sale of TaylorMade Golf Co., which it acquired for $1.7 billion in 2021.
Centroid proposes a valuation of around $3.3 billion for one of the world’s top golf club brand, or 15 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $220 million in 2023.
Back in 2021, the private equity house formed a project fund for the deal, with contributions from Korean fashion retailer F&F Co., MG Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and National Credit Union Federation of Korea.
Posing a hurdle to the sale, however, the strategic and anchor investor in TaylorMade, F&F, suggests postponing the divestment in light of the company’s business performance, according to the sources.
In an interview with the Nikkei Asia in January, Jeong Jin-hyeok, CEO of Centroid Investment, said TaylorMade has grown more than 20% on average per year since its acquisition.
By Da-Eun Choi
max@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
