North Castle Partners to Sell Cascade Helmets to Bauer Performance Sports

North Castle Partners, a leading investor in small-cap consumer companies focused on health, wellness and active living, has reached a definitive agreement to sell Cascade Helmets Holdings, Inc. (“Cascade”), a leading manufacturer and distributor of men’s and youth lacrosse helmets in North America, to Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. (TSX:BAU) (“BAUER”) (the “Acquisition”) for a purchase price of US$64 million, payable in cash and subject to adjustment. The Acquisition is expected to close on or about June 29, 2012, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Cascade is the leading designer, developer, manufacturer and marketer of lacrosse helmets and eyewear in North America, and is a leading and well-recognized brand in the broader lacrosse equipment industry. In addition to Cascade’s lacrosse business, the acquisition also includes Cascade’s recently-established hockey helmet business, which has experienced success in the industry with its M11 helmet, which was co-developed with hockey icon Mark Messier. Cascade designs and manufactures all of its products at its operations in Liverpool, NY, which allows it to provide 48-hour turnaround time for custom helmet orders and over 750,000 different color combinations.

“The sale of Cascade continues to validate our strategy to partner with entrepreneurial management teams to build high growth brands for sale to strategic buyers,” said North Castle Managing Director Alison Minter. “North Castle, leveraging its deep experience in sports, fitness and recreation in partnership with Cascade’s exceptional leadership team, accelerated new product innovation, doubled sales and built a new line of hockey helmets with hockey legend Mark Messier.”

“We are proud of our role in the Cascade transaction, which is representative of the broader value creation that we are driving across our entire portfolio,” remarked North Castle’s Managing Partner Chip Baird. “We continue to look for opportunities across the health, wellness and active living markets to leverage our knowledge, network and experience in building market leaders like Cascade.”