Columbia Sportswear to Sell 23% Stake in IPO

Columbia Sportswear Co., the outerwear maker popularized by 73-year-old Chairwoman Gertrude Boyle, will seek to sell 23% of its common stock through an initial public offering. The Portland, Ore., company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 6.67 million common shares for about $16 each, raising as much as $107 million. The company will have 28.6 million shares outstanding after the IPO. The $16 stock price implies Columbia has a market value of almost $460 million. In the early 1970s, when Columbia was laden with debt, a prospective buyer made an offer for the company that would have paid Boyle about $1,400. She angrily rebuffed the offer, according to published reports. Now Boyle and her son Timothy, who serves as chief executive, will cash in on their efforts. In conjunction with a change in the company’s corporate tax status, Columbia will use the IPO proceeds to help fund a $107-million dividend payment to existing shareholders. Gertrude and Timothy Boyle together hold 16.1 million common shares.