Private Equity Giant KKR Buys Houston Based Academy Sports and Outdoors

The New York based buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co has struck a deal to buy the Houston-based and family owned Academy Sports + Outdoors, which owns 131 stores in 11 states.

The purchase price wasn't immediately disclosed, but the company -- an outdoor lifestyle and retail chain -- reported total revenue of $2.7 billion last year.

The founding Gochman family will maintain a minority interest in the company, and their current President-CEO will continue in that capacity.

This sale to KKR comes only seven months after the death of Academy founder Arthur Gochman, a lawyer-businessman-philanthropist who parlayed six Houston military surplus stores into one of the nation's leading sporting goods retailers. Gochman died last October at the age of 79.

via KKR buys Academy Sports chain | Business | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle.

Academy's 11 state chain includes stores in Lufkin, Longview and Tyler, and it has about 16,000 employees in its 131 stores. Ownership and upper level management of the Academy chain will now move from Houston to New York. KKR is a global equity firm that specializes in buying up successful companies, and it now has more than $600 billion dollars in holdings.

Filed Under: academy sports and outdoors, KKR, kohlberg kravis roberts, sporting goods

Categories: Business News, East Texas News, Texas News