Austin, TX, June 17--The Riverside Co., a New York-based private equity firm, has acquired Sport Court Inc., a subsidiary of Leander-based American Sports Products Group Inc, according to the Austin Business Journal.
Salt Lake City-based Sport Court, which was founded in 1974, produces backyard and institutional modular flooring and golf surfaces.
"Despite strong performance, Sport Court was pulled into bankruptcy because of financial problems at Sport Court's sister company, Southwest Recreational Industries Inc.," says Will Bixby, a partner at Riverside's Dallas office. "It was a bit unusual for Riverside to acquire a company out of bankruptcy; however we were willing to jump through hoops in order to acquire what we saw as a tremendous growth of opportunity."
This deal follows a similar deal in which American Sports Products sold its Jefferson, Iowa-based American Athletic Inc. for $13 million.
Financial terms of the Sport Court deal were not disclosed.
In February, Leander-based American Sports Products subsidiary Southwest Recreational Industries Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The subsidiary makes and installs synthetic and natural grass playing fields -- including AstroTurf -- as well as running tracks, tennis surfaces and indoor gymnasium floors.
Three bankruptcy petitions were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Rome, Ga., for SRI and two Leander-based subsidiaries -- E.J. Renner and Associates Inc., which does business as Malott Peterson Renner Inc. -- and AWS Construction Inc. Two of SRI's plants are near Rome -- in Dalton and Chatsworth, Ga.
American Sports Products wasn't part of the filing. Neither was American Athletic.
Bixby says Riverside plans to grow the company through internal initiatives and add-on acquisitions of other sport flooring companies.
Riverside has about $1.3 billion of capital under management. Since 1988, Riverside has invested in 84 acquisitions. This year, Riverside has invested in 6 companies so far.
