Mobeus's Equip Outdoor Technologies mandates KPMG for potential sale

Barbara Pianese and Deane McRobie
17 November 2021

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Equip Outdoor Technologies, the parent company of specialist outdoor brands Rab and Lowe Alpine, has engaged KPMG to guide it in talks with investors for a potential sale, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The size of the stake to be offered in the auction of the UK-based business has not been decided yet and will depend on negotiations, one of the sources added. Minority shareholder Mobeus, which invested GBP 4.5m in 2011, is set to exit its investment, this source added.

First-round bids are expected next week, two of the sources said. Mid-market sponsors and trade buyers are looking at the business, one source added.

The company is expected to generate revenues north of GBP 90m in the financial year ending in January 2022, one of the sources said. In the year to January 2021, it posted GBP 9.8m in adjusted EBITDA and GBP 61.2m in turnover, according to a public filing under company name Eoth.

The sale of Swiss outdoor clothing specialist Mammut to Telemos Capital for undisclosed terms earlier this year could guide the company's valuation, a third source familiar said. Though Mammut operates in the same space, its sale happened under different market conditions, one of the sources countered.

Thanks to its two brands, Equip Outdoor Technologies presents a well differentiated product offering, a sector banker noted.

Rab was established in 1981 to design and manufacture down clothing and sleeping bags. Lowe Alpine is a backpack specialist founded in 1967 and sold to Equip Outdoor Technologies in 2011.

Equip Outdoor Technologies and KPMG declined to comment. Moebus did not respond to requests for comment.