Black Diamond snaps up POC

The American climbing and snow sports specialist Black Diamond is casting its nets in mountain bike territory: The young Swedish company, which specializes in helmets and protectors, is moving under the umbrella of the Salt Lake City-based outdoor company.

In "stock market terms", the fact that POC will become a subsidiary of Black Diamond is formulated as follows: POC Sweden AB and Black Diamond, Inc. have agreed to a definitive agreement under which Black Diamond will acquire POC, subject to customary closing conditions. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Black Diamond will acquire POC for approximately EUR 35 million including 460,000 BDE ordinary shares. In addition, a series of long-term, performance-based bonuses for POC management totaling approximately EUR 10 million are planned as compensation, which will be distributed in several tranches over a period of six and a half years.

POC founder and CEO Stefan Ytterborn explains: "POC has had a fantastic journey since its launch in 2005/06 and we have grown rapidly in all major markets. In order to better meet the rapid growth and the associated requirements, we need to have a partner at our side in this challenging situation who can clearly identify with the culture, aesthetics and mission of POC. We had a handful of interesting offers. It wasn't until Black Diamond came along and I saw their headquarters in Salt Lake City that I understood that POC and Black Diamond were a perfect match."

POC will remain headquartered in Stockholm and operate as a separate subsidiary of Black Diamond Inc. Ytterborn adds: "Black Diamond's view of the consumer, product innovation, quality, safety and tenacious approach to simply being better than the competition is a perfect fit with POC's philosophy. Besides the cultural points of contact, there are numerous advantages and structures at Black Diamond that are likely to ensure more efficient sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, sales and distribution and probably also enable POC to grow even faster."

Black Diamond Equipment Ltd went public in 2010 along with Gregory Mountain Products and Clarus Corporation. Black Diamond, Inc. is active in the design, manufacture and marketing of products for climbing, mountaineering, backpacking, skiing and other types of active outdoor recreation.

www.pocsports.com
www.blackdiamondequipment.com