Texas Investor to Buy Maker of Hobie Cats
Texas investor Anthony M. Wilson is expected to purchase Coast Catamaran Corp., the Oceanside-based manufacturer of the world-famous Hobie Cat sailboat.
“We’re very pleased with the new buyer,” said Doug Campbell, president and general manager of Coast, in announcing the sale that has temporarily quelled employees’ fears that the company would be relocated under a new owner.
Campbell, who said the transaction will be completed in October, declined to release sale price or income figures for Coast, saying that would violate the agreement with Wilson.
Wilson, who is in Hyeres, France, exploring the possibility of buying Coast’s European subsidiary, could not be reached for comment. He is founder and chairman of the board of South Coast Terminals Inc., a machine-lubricant manufacturer based in Houston with 108 employees and annual sales of $17 million to $20 million.
Coast’s parent firm, Coleman Co.--a manufacturer and distributor of camping and outdoor recreation products--announced its decision last September to sell Coast, citing disappointing sales in the sailboat industry. There was widespread concern among Coast’s 130 employees that a new owner might move the company, possibly to foreign lands in search of cheaper labor.
In response to such speculation, employees and Oceanside officials--eager to keep their high-profile company in the city--tried to engineer an employee buyout. But such efforts collapsed when the employees failed to make a competitive bid, Campbell said.
“It was very difficult not knowing what was going to happen,” Campbell said. “We’re very pleased right now because Mr. Wilson definitely has no plans to move the company in the short term.”
A deal announced in November by which Evergreen Partners of Irvine was to have bought Coast for about $16 million fell through in March after financing was delayed.
Wilson has agreed to purchase the 200,000-square-foot Oceanside plant and has a 30-day option to buy Coast Catamaran France, S.A., Campbell said. In addition to its famous catamaran, Coast builds Holder monohull recreational sailboats and is the U.S. distributor for Alpha sail boards.
