Hillerich & Bradsby Co. of Louisville, Ky., is selling the rights to the Louisville Slugger baseball bat to Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million.
“Hillerich will continue to manufacture bats as it has for more than a century, but it will be up to glove maker Wilson, a unit of Helsinki-based Amer Sports Corp., to sell them,”
a
Wall Street Journal
report explained.
Hillerich will continue to own the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and Gift Shop, the article said.
Hillerich & Bradsby is owned by the founding Hillerich family and several employees, the
Journal
article said. Fifth-generation CEO John Hillerich IV said on a conference call that the family had been actively exploring options for about a year.
Hillerich will lay off 52 employees, nearly a fifth of its workforce, the article said. Forty-four other Hillerich employees will be transferred to Wilson, which is based in Chicago,
an
Insider Louisville
report noted.
In 2011, Hillerich brought in turnaround experts from AlixPartners, the
Journal
report said.
The
Insider Louisville
report noted that Hillerich officials would not disclose how long the bats would continue to be made it its Louisville factory under the deal with Wilson.
Louisville Business First
reported
that Hillerich would also retain a warehouse near the University of Louisville used to ship pats to retailers, although those shipping operations would eventually move to a Wilson warehouse. Once those activities end in Louisville, the warehouse will be converted to a storage facility.
The
Insider Louisville
article said that Hillerich was unable to keep up with global competitors' resources.
The
Louisville Business First
report said John Hillerich IV fought back tears at a press conference announcing the deal. The article also said that the company plans to use proceeds from the transaction to pay off debt and establish positive cash flow, and that Hillerich also will invest in its bat manufacturing and renovating the museum and factory. (Sources:
Wall Street Journal
, March 24, 2015;
Insider Louisville
, March 24, 2015;
Louisville Business First
, March 23, 2015.)
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