Graeme Roustan wants to bid for Performance Sports Group, the maker of Bauer hockey equipment, which is part of the reason he is expected on Friday to back down from a nasty proxy fight.
“This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning,” a source close to the situation said.
The move by Roustan, the former PSG chairman, comes after current Chairman Bernie McDonell greeted in a less-than-cordial manner his predecessor’s move to join the board.
PSG shares have fallen nearly 24 percent in the last 12 months.
Roustan will likely team with a private equity firm for his expected run at the company, sources said.
A bid from Roustan for PSG — which closed Thursday with a market cap of $565 million — could reach more than $1 billion, said sources, who noted a bid may not be ready before the company’s Oct. 14 annual meeting.
Roustan is expected to turn up his level of interest in PSG — where he was on the board from 2008 to 2012 — weeks after he failed to secure an NHL expansion franchise for a second team in suburban Toronto.
Roustan thinks PSG is making a mistake by launching Own the Moment Hockey Experience stores and that it will anger sporting-goods retailers, sources said.
However, PSG held its annual Bauer World event in Montreal this week, and many of its retail partners were supportive of the strategy, a source close to the company said.
PSG hockey revenue increased 13 percent in the year ended June 30. Sales were up 28 percent at rival Adidas’ Reebok-CCM hockey unit for the six months ending May 31.
Roustan and PSG declined comment.
