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KKR to buy Cisneros Cos. unit
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August 16, 1996: 12:25 p.m. ET
Days after unloading American Re, KKR to acquire most of Spalding & Evenflo
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Two days after dumping its $1.6 billion stake in American Re Corp., Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. turned around and threw the money at Spalding & Evenflo Cos.
KKR picked up a majority stake in the subsidiary of the Cisneros Group of Cos., but terms of the acquisition, such as exactly how big a stake, were not disclosed.
Wall Street sources priced the deal between $950 million and $1 billion, including $370 million or so in debt on the company's books, according to today's Wall Street Journal.
A KKR spokeswoman refused to comment.
Spalding & Evenflo is expected to have total product sales of $1 billion in its current fiscal year. Based in Chicopee, Mass., Spalding makes sports products, such as Top Flite golf balls. Piqua, Ohio-based Evenflo manufactures infant and juvenile products, such as baby bottles.
KKR won a hotly competitive auction for the company, according to the Journal. Many buyout firms, including AEA Investors, were believed to be interested in acquiring the company and made initial bids.
In April, the Cisneros Group hired Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Morgan Stanley & Co. to sell all or part of the company. Merrill Lynch & Co. advised KKR.
"With this transaction, we are able to realize some of the significant value we have created at Spalding & Evenflo so that we may accelerate the expansion of our investments in world-wide media and telecommunications, our primary areas of focus," said Gustavo Cisneros, chairman and chief executive at Cisneros Group.
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Cisneros Group of Cos.
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