Bain Capital is thinking of moving on from Canada Goose Holdings Inc.
The private equity giant — which bought 70 percent of the parka maker in 2013 and then took it public in 2017 — is talking to bankers about selling off some or all of its remaining stake in the business, according to a source familiar with the process. Bloomberg earlier reported the talks.
Bain still holds about 30.8 million of the 96.8 million Canada Goose shares outstanding as of March, according to a regulatory filing.
But since Bain’s stake covers 60.5 percent of the company’s multiple voting shares — which have 10 times the say of the regular stock — the private equity player still holds 55.5 percent of the voting power.
Dani Reiss, who leads the firm as chairman and chief executive officer, has retained about 31.3 percent of the company’s voting power, most of it tied up in multiple voting shares.
Investors were keen on the idea of a little action in the stock and traded Canada Goose up 5.5 percent to $13.64 in midday trading on Wall Street Thursday.
That’s a far cry from the stock’s peak of over $72 in 2018, but still gives the company a market capitalization of $1.3 billion — a good turn considering the company was said to be valued at about $250 million when Bain bought in and Ryan Cotton, who is now a partner, helped steer the investment forward.
Starting in the late 1990s, Reiss transformed the small private label producer founded by his grandfather Sam Tick into one of the vanguards of the luxury outerwear trend.
But Canada Goose is based on more than the revelation that one’s taste in fashion can indeed be shown to the world in the wintertime.
Reiss has always described the brand as rooted in function, keeping shoppers warm first and then stylish. Since last year he’s had some more help on the design front with Haider Ackermann serving as the company’s first creative director while also serving as creative director of the Tom Ford brand.
Looks from Canada Goose.
Courtesy
The brand became nearly ubiquitous on the streets of New York in the winter and has been expanding along a number of fronts, opening its own stores, growing its business in Europe and branching out into China and more. As Canada Goose’s brand grew, the wholesale business has been deemphasized.
The company bought footwear maker Baffin Inc. in 2018, formed a joint venture for Japan in 2022 and acquired luxury knitwear producer Paola Confectii in 2023.
Those deals helped Canada Goose expand into footwear and bolster its knits business as it sought to create a larger lifestyle offering that fulfilled more needs of customers throughout the year.
Along the way, the company has continued to live up to its name with 75 percent of all of its products made in Canada.
That helped when global supply chains were mangled during the pandemic and could be a benefit if Canada fares better than China and other big Asian producers in President Donald Trump’s trade war with the world.
Last fiscal year, the company logged net profits of $94.8 million, a big increase from $58.4 million the year before. Sales rose to $1.35 billion from $1.33 billion, led by DTC sales, which grew 5.1 percent to nearly $1 billion.
“We took significant steps to become a better retailer in order to drive higher sales productivity in our stores,” Reiss told analysts on a conference call in May. “Our focus on enhancing store staffing, inventory position and the in-store experience contributed to higher conversion rates in comparable stores for the year. We evolved our marketing and brand strategy delivering impactful brand moments during our Snow Goose campaign, which now serves as the blueprint for future campaigns. And we successfully managed our inventory, which is now down year-over-year for six consecutive quarters resulting in cleaner inventory across all channels and paving the way for a much more product newness in the coming years.”
