Just as Reuters predicted last Friday, the parent company of Cascade Helmets and Maverik Lacrosse has filed for bankruptcy. Performance Sports Group (PSG) Ltd listed $594 million in assets and $608 million in debts in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. Other PSG brands include Bauer Hockey, Mission Roller Hockey, Inaria, Combat, and Easton Baseball/Softball.
The news comes just days following the unveiling of the Cascade LX, a product Cascade Helmets has designed to meet the new ASTM Standards for headgear and eyewear in women’s lacrosse.
Reasons for the PSG’s bankruptcy
Here are the reasons for Performance Sports Group’s situation according to USA Today:
- Significant decrease in retail sales across all product categories
- The Chapter 11 filing of Sports Authority in March, which triggered a $90 million loss of PSG inventory
- Bankruptcies of other key customers
- Adverse market and economic conditions
- Customer credit issues
- Currency issues
The flatlined growth of youth baseball hasn’t helped either – the bat category has experienced a significant downturn. Because of all this PSG has filed for protection from its creditors in Delaware and Canada.
The company has lined up a “stalking horse” bid from a current shareholder, Sagard Capital Partners, and Fairfax Holdings that’s just shy of $600 million. This will be the leading bid in the auctioning of the company’s assets. A final sale must be approved by the bankruptcy judge.
Through the recent filing process, Performance Sports Group also secured access to bankruptcy loans totaling $386 million. This is known as debtor-in-possession financing, which enables the company to continue operating. PSG will continue paying employee wages, salaries and benefits.
Overall the situation shouldn’t affect lacrosse players much as long as operations stay normal. Here’s hoping things go smoothly in the boardroom the next few months.
We believe that pursuing a sale through a court-supervised restructuring process represents the best path forward for our customers, vendors, retail and business partners, employees and other stakeholders. While the sale process is underway, our employees will remain focused on serving our customers and consumers and delivering our industry leading products and brands.
– CEO Harlan Kent