First Islamic Investment Bank, which recently posted a 60 percent increase in net income to $32.7 million for 2001, announced details of its arrangement of the recent acquisition of an American outdoor sporting goods holding company Destination Outdoors.
First Islamic arranged the combination of Yakima Products, a manufacturer of multi-sport racks and rack accessories for automobiles, and WaterMark Paddlesports, manufacturer of kayaks and paddle sports accessories. The two companies are held through a holding company, Destination Outdoors.
Yakima designs, manufactures and markets sports equipment, collectively branded as Destination Hardware. Yakima products include multi-sport racks and rack accessories for automobiles, child and cargo trailers, snowshoes and child joggers. WaterMark was formed by First Islamic and its co-investors in 1998 through the merger of two US kayak producers, Perception and Dagger.
“If the company can grow sales organically and through acquisitions to more than $200 million, it should become an attractive IPO candidate,” First Islamic's Chief Executive Officer Atif Abdulmalik said. “The company has completed two add–on acquisitions recently and has identified a number of other acquisition candidates.”
Investment Placement Executive Director Mohamed Nooruddin said: “Both Yakima and WaterMark are leaders in their respective niche markets and have distribution and manufacturing synergies that should contribute to substantial cost efficiencies.”
Bahrain-based First Islamic Investment Bank E.C. was established in 1997. Today, First Islamic's paid-up capital stands at $112.5 million with over 80 shareholders. To date, First Islamic has undertaken direct investment transactions in excess of $865 million in the United States and real estate transactions totaling over one billion dollars. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
