SEATTLE (December 1, 2011) – New Wave Group AB (NEWAb.ST), headquartered in Sweden but with significant interests in the United States, has acquired Paris Glove of Canada Ltd.
The addition of Paris Glove (www.parisglove.com) enhances the New Wave Group corporate portfolio, which is the parent company of Cutter & Buck, Ahead, Clique, Craft, Orrefors and Kosta Boda, among other brands.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. New Wave purchased 100 percent of the ownership of Paris Glove. Paris Glove’s 90 employees and the current ownership, with operations in both Canada and New York, have become employees of New Wave.
“We view Paris Glove as a complement to our other apparel lines and global markets,” said Torsten Jansson, Managing Director and CEO of New Wave Group. “The company provides an established base of entry to Canada’s retail markets for other New Wave products with Paris Glove’s established customer base.”
Paris has been entirely family-owned since its inception in 1945, when founders Felix and Lily Monk brought their glove knowledge from the old country to Canada. It is one of the oldest and most respected glove companies in North America and has earned an enviable reputation in the glove world as a premium brand synonymous with quality, style and performance.
Paris Glove is the only glove company delivering products to all markets – sports, fashion, and industrial gloves for men and women, adults and children. The company also sells a line of men and women’s scarves and headwear, and distributes a limited selection of other products to its customer base on behalf of other brands.
The Paris Glove companies are:
• Laurentide: Supplier of gloves, protective clothing and rainwear to industry.
• Gloves International Incorporated: Supplier of private label gloves to chains and department stores in the United States.
• The Paris fashion division: Supplies men’s, women’s and children’s gloves to over 3,000 retailers in Canada.
• Auclair Sport division: Supplies and serves sporting goods stores and specialty shops with high performance ski, snowboard and cycling gloves.
• The Paris Sport division is the supplier of Dynaflite Softball Equipment and baseball equipment to Canada’s team sport dealers.
Auclair is the premium sport and outdoor division of Paris Glove. It is also the official supplier to practically every Canadian team on snow and ice including Alpine, Snowboarding, Freestyle, Speed Skating, Nordic Combined, Biathlon, Telemark, Speed Skiing and, of course, Cross Country. The brand was prominent at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics where most of Canada’s athletes wore Auclair gloves and the USA Olympic squad featured six gold medalists wearing Auclair.
“Auclair and Paris enjoy one of the longest sponsor-team relationships in all of sport with a 30-plus year history with the Canadian Cross Country ski team,” said Peter Monk, president and CEO, who took over operations from his parents in 1973. “We envision the opportunity for expansion into the European and Asian markets with the strength of New Wave’s reach.”
Paris Gloves sells to virtually every retailer in Canada, many major retailers in the USA, produces many private brand gloves for retailers, and licenses a number of non-proprietary brands such as Kodiak, Simon Chang, Izod, Joseph Abboud, and Etienne AIGNER.
The Collins Group Inc. of Montreal and Stockholm acted as financial advisor to Paris Glove in its sale to New Wave.
New Wave Group AB is engaged in the design, acquisition, and development of brands and products within the promotion, sports, gift and interior design sectors. It operates through three business areas:
• The corporate promotions business area is engaged in the supply of promotional products in both Europe and the United States.
• The sports and leisure business area is engaged in the marketing of such sportswear brands, as Cutter & Buck, Craft, Seger and Speedo in both the Nordic countries and the United States.
• The gifts and home furnishings business area markets such brands as Orrefors, Kosta Boda and Sagaform, as well as other brands in 17 countries.
New Wave Group AB sales divisions are currently active in 20 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia.
For additional information, access the New Wave web site at www.nwg.se.
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This press release contains certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements that address activities, events or developments that we intend, expect, plan, project, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments. Our ability to successfully integrate and expand their operations following the acquisition will depend on national or global political, economic, business, market and other conditions.
Contact:
Karen Moraghan
Hunter Public Relations
908/876-5100
kmoraghan@hunter-pr.com
