Graeme Roustan holds a hockey stick in Toronto's financial district in 2017. Mr. Roustan has acquired True Hockey with the goal of replicating the success he had with Bauer.Mark Blinch/Globe and Mail
Sports executive Graeme Roustan acquired True Hockey on Wednesday, with a goal of once again turning the No. 3 equipment maker into the top player on the ice.
Mr. Roustan, who made Bauer Hockey the sport’s dominant brand 15 years ago, bought True from Memphis, Tenn.-based True Temper Sports Inc., which is owned by private-equity fund Lincolnshire Management Inc., headquartered in New York.
“We plan to roll out the same game plan at True that made Bauer number one, by expanding product lines and making hockey more affordable,” Mr. Roustan said in an interview. He said: “True will introduce low-priced, entry-level products to grow the game, a category CCM and Bauer have exited.”
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Mr. Roustan grew up playing hockey in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood, where he was raised by a single mother. He had three siblings and typically went on the ice with a stick handed down from his older brother.
“My passion isn’t getting rich off hockey, it’s growing the game,” said Mr. Roustan, who is also the owner and publisher of The Hockey News.
True had sales of US$55-million last year on sticks, skates and the market-leading line of goalie equipment. Mr. Roustan said under his leadership, the company will add hockey helmets, pants and other gear to its product lines.
Over the 13 years it owned True, Lincolnshire bought a Winnipeg skate factory and a goalie-gear facility in Terrebonne, Que., previously owned by the Lefebvre family. “We are repatriating ownership of iconic Canadian manufacturers,” Mr. Roustan said.
True director of innovation Pat Lefebvre said in a news release on Wednesday: “My family and I are very excited to continue to build on our passion of designing and manufacturing world-class goalie product.”
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. Mr. Roustan will move True’s head office from Memphis to Brantford, Ont.
Mr. Roustan is also acquiring True Temper’s baseball and lacrosse businesses. Over time, he said, the company plans to shift manufacturing of baseball bats and other gear to a Brantford facility that currently makes hockey sticks.
True holds 10 per cent of market share in hockey gear, trailing Bauer, which accounts for 56 per cent of equipment sales, and CCM Hockey, which holds a 29-per-cent share.
Professional hockey players Connor Hellebuyck, Mitch Marner, Brady Tkachuk, Natalie Spooner and Jordan Binnington wear True gear.
True and Mr. Roustan did not release terms for the transaction.
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In 2008, Mr. Roustan and private-equity fund KKR & Co. Inc. acquired Bauer from Nike Inc., with the Sherbrooke-born executive serving as chair of the company. At the time, Bauer ranked third in market share in the hockey industry. Four years later, when Mr. Roustan stepped down, Bauer ranked first.
Last September, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired the 50 per cent of Bauer parent Peak Achievement Athletics Inc. it did not own from Sagard Holdings Inc. for an estimated $400-million, or eight times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA.
Last October, Stockholm-based Altor Equity Partners acquired CCM from Toronto-based Birch Hill Equity Partners for $600-million, which was also eight times EBITDA.
Lincolnshire acquired True Temper in 2012, with a strategy to expand the golf club, lacrosse and hockey stick maker’s line of products. In 2020, True Temper bought family-owned goalie-equipment manufacturer Lefebvre Inc.
In August, 2024, Lincolnshire launched a sales process for True Temper’s hockey business, with investment bank Raymond James Financial Inc. advising on the auction. Numerous private-equity funds, CCM and retailer Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. looked at the business. At the end of a 13-month sales process, Mr. Roustan joked: “I outlasted all the other bidders.”
Buyout funds typically sell investments within 10 years of purchasing a stake. Lincolnshire is expected to sell True Temper’s golf business in the near future.
Over the past year, Altor sold stakes in CCM to two private-equity fund managers, Toronto-based Northleaf Capital Partners Ltd. and Stamford, Conn.-based Seven7 LLC, which was co-founded by Montreal Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis. Mr. Roustan said he has no plans to add additional investors to True’s ownership.