MANUFACTURING
Altamont Continues Its Action-Sports Play
Altamont Capital Partners is on a buying spree.
In November, the Palo Alto, Calif.–headquartered private-equity firm announced that it had made significant investments in action-sports brands Huf Worldwide Inc. of Los Angeles and Brixton, which is headquartered in Oceanside, Calif.
On Dec. 10, Altamont announced that it is leading a “majority recapitalization” of Fox Head Inc., a motocross equipment, apparel and accessory brand that is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. The company’s previous owners, the family of label founder Geoff Fox, will continue to own a significant minority interest in the company.
The Altamont investment news was accompanied by an announcement of an executive shuffle at Fox.
Nick Adcock, Fox’s chief executive officer and Bill Bussiere, the company’s chief financial officer, will resign to pursue other opportunities, according to an Altamont statement. Pete Fox, former Fox president son of founder Geoff Fox, will rejoin the company as its chief creative officer.
Scott Olivet will join Fox and serve as the company’s interim CEO during an executive search. Olivet is the operating partner for Altamont and serves as the chairman of the board of Dakine, Huf, Brixton and Mervin.
“The Fox team has done a tremendous job the last few years weathering a challenging market and positioning itself for the future,” Olivet said. “The Fox brand is authentic and relevant across a number of action sports, so we are in the enviable position of being able to choose from a range of growth opportunities. But it’s clear that building on our leadership in motocross will always be our first priority. We will be focused on gaining leadership in product categories where we are not currently number one, increasing the pace of innovation for our consumers and harnessing our innovation, technologies and athlete and brand stories to serve the market in a compelling way.”
