Amer Sports stock ends its first day of trading with a 3% gain over its discounted IPO price

By Steve Gelsi

Outdoor-brand owner raises about $1.4 billion in its IPO

Shares of Amer Sports Inc. debuted with a gain Thursday, as the upsized initial public offering was priced low enough to attract investor interest.

The IPO ended its first day of trading at $13.40 a share, up by 3.1% from its price of $13 a share. The stock's first trade on the New York Stock Exchange was at $13.40 at 12:56 p.m. Eastern for 2.5 million shares.

The IPO priced at a $3 discount to the low end of its estimated price range of $16 to $18 a share.

Amer Sports (AS) was the second large IPO to debut at a discounted price in 2024, after BrightSpring Health Services Inc.'s IPO (BTSG) on Jan. 26.

With 105 million shares in the IPO, Amer Sports raised about $1.37 billion dollars with 21 underwriters, including Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.

Amer Sports owns outdoor brands Arc'teryx, Salomon and Wilson and operated 261 stores globally as of Sept. 30.

The company reported 2022 revenue of $3.55 billion, up from $2.4 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.4%. Its net loss grew to $252.7 million from $237.2 million during the same time frame.

Principal shareholders of Amer Sports include FountainVest Partners, Anta Sports Product Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Anamered investments Inc., which is an entity affiliated with billionaire Dennis J. "Chip" Wilson, the founder of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU).

The shareholders acquired Amer Sports in 2019 after announcing plans to buy the company for about $5.2 billion in late 2018.

Although the stock market has been volatile, a few other deals - from American Healthcare REIT, Fortegra and Fractyle Health - are on deck in the IPO market.

Also read: American Healthcare REIT, Fortegra and Fractyle Health set IPO price ranges as thaw continues

Amer Sports' debut comes as the Renaissance IPO ETF IPO has rallied 15.8% over the past three months, to outperform the S&P 500 index's SPX 15.2% gain over the same time.

-Steve Gelsi

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02-01-24 1613ET

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