Nike Acquires Irvine Firm: Nike Inc. said...

Nike Acquires Irvine Firm: Nike Inc. said Thursday that it has completed its acquisition of Sports Specialties Corp. in Irvine, which bills itself as the world’s largest marketer and distributor of licensed athletic caps.

Nike, the sports-shoe maker based in Beaverton, Ore., bought Sports Specialties from the New York investment firm Oppenheimer-Palmieri Fund L.P.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The sale price had been estimated earlier at more than $50 million. Nike said it will keep Sports Specialties’ current management.

Sports Specialties, based in Irvine, has about 40 employees and reported 1992 revenue of about $65 million. Nike said it thinks that the sports-cap marketer, founded in 1928, is capable of more.

“The accessories business is one of the fastest-growing areas of the sports and fitness industry,” Philip H. Knight, Nike’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Headwear along is a $1.5-billion retail segment in the U.S.”