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Vuori Share Sale Values Athleisure Startup at $5.5 Billion

Men's clothing displayed for sale at the new Vuori athletic apparel store in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. The activewear company, valued at $4 billion after a $400 million investment from SoftBank a year ago, expects to be operating about 30 locations by year end and could nearly double that total in 2023. Photographer: Lanna Apisukh/Bloomberg (Lanna Apisukh/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Activewear maker Vuori will allow some early investors and employees to sell shares in a tender offer that values the company at about $5.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The tender, also known as a secondary share sale, is about $825 million, said some of the people, all of whom asked to not to be identified discussing private information.

The investors leading the tender are General Atlantic and growth equity firm Stripes, the people said. 

Representatives for Vuori and Stripes didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. General Atlantic declined to comment. The tender offer hasn’t closed and terms could still change, one of the people said.

The deal represents a significant jump from Vuori’s $4 billion valuation in 2021 — when the company raised $400 million from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund 2 — and establishes it as a formidable American clothier. Another existing investor is Norwest Venture Partners.

Launched a decade ago in California, Vuori (pronounced view-or-ee) competes with athletic clothing companies such as Alo Yoga, Beyond Yoga and Rhone Apparel Inc. It’s also increasingly going head-to-head with larger companies like apparel giant Nike Inc. and Lululemon Athletica Inc., which has a market capitalization of $38.6 billion.

--With assistance from Katie Roof.

(Updates with the name of another existing investor in fifth paragraph.)

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