Korea¡¯s Centroid Investment to name strategic partners next week

Centroid Investment Partners, a Seoul-based private equity firm, next week may name a strategic partner to join its buyout of TaylorMade Golf Co., a California-based golf equipment sponsor of Tiger Woods, among large retailers and mid-sized fashion houses in Korea.

According to investment banking sources on Sunday, Centroid Investment Partners plans to pick a strategic partner to speed up its $1.7 billion buyout and create synergy by beefing up fashion and retail network of TaylorMade.

Choices are ample.

Retail giants including Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai Department Store and GS Retail and mid-sized fashion houses like F&F, Youngone Corp., The Nature Holdings, DI Dong Il Corp., Hansae Fashion Worldwide, JS Corp., MFM Korea and Sae-A Trading are some of the names eager to get the pick.

Through the cooperation with the global brand, retailers hope to go global and add its flagship stores in their offline shopping malls, as well as further enhancing their brand awareness.

Fashion companies will also be able to enjoy various benefits, envisioning to becoming the next Fila Korea, a global brand owner that started as a strategic investor.

The burden on the strategic partner won¡¯t likely be big as the PEF-consortium hopes to list the company and bring down its stake to 40-50 percent.

TaylorMade is a golf equipment maker based in California famous as sponsor for PGA Tour star players like Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlory. KPS Capital Partners, an American private equity firm, bought the company from Adidas in 2017 for $425 million.

Centroid Investment Partners is a mid-sized private equity firm established in 2015 in Korea. It acquired a golf club at 170 billion won ($153 million) from BGF Group recently.

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