Equistone sells Sport Group: A sustainable investment in two respects

During its partnership with the Equistone funds, Sport Group has emerged as a leading international player for artificial turf, synthetic outdoor sports and leisure surfaces, as well as a pioneer in sustainability. After almost nine years of successful collaboration and continued development, the Bavarian-headquartered group has now changed ownership: funds advised by Equistone have sold their stake to the New York-based investment firm KPS Capital Partners LP.

Collaboration with the leading sports surfacing specialist since 2015
Funds advised by Equistone acquired a majority stake in Sport Group in June 2015. During the nine-year partnership, the group has succeeded in positioning itself as a leading specialist in artificial turf and synthetic outdoor sports and leisure surfaces. With its comprehensive service portfolio - from artificial turf to polyurethane surfaces and components for industrial and landscape applications - Sport Group serves prominent international customers, including football clubs, sports companies and organisations such as FC Bayern Munich, the US Open and the Olympic Games. The group has a strong presence in its home market of Germany, as well as in Europe, Australia and the USA – a key driver of growth, consistently expanded with the support of Equistone funds in recent years: Through nine successful acquisitions during the holding period, the group has not only grown to comprise 19 subsidiaries but has also significantly increased their activities in growth markets such as Australia, USA and Malaysia.

Focus on growth, sustainability and increasing profitability
In addition to expanding Sport Group’s geographical presence, the increase of the group's sustainability expertise marked another important focus of the partnership. With Equistone's support, Sport Group significantly advanced its development of sustainable products via targeted investments. The group established new sustainability standards within the industry and achieved a number of important milestones, including developing the world's first carbon-neutral football and field hockey turf, as well as the industry's first and only recycling plant for artificial turf and EPDM rubber. Another top priority during Equistone’s investment period was enhancing the group's profitability: through targeted measures to increase efficiency and optimise costs, Sport Group achieved to more than double its revenues. This represented a major achievement for the business particularly given the challenging economic environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated disruption to global supply chains. In preparation for significant domestic and international growth, the organisation underwent a comprehensive professionalisation process to elevate its operations to a new level, including the reorganisation and strengthening of the local management team in its three core regions, the expansion of central competence centers for, e.g., F&E and supply chain management, as well as an internal project management office.

Together with the new owner KPS, Sport Group will build on this track record of recent success and further expand its leading market position.