logos of POC and Black Diamond...guess which is which?
logos of POC and Black Diamond...guess which is which?

Black Diamond announced today that it will purchase POC for $56 million.  Seems like a pretty good call to us.  POC makes solid gear that anyone would be proud to wear.

“The price includes $43.5 million in cash and up to $12.5 million in incentive payments. At closing, Black Diamond will deliver approximately 460,000 shares of its common stock and approximately $40 million in cash, depending upon exchange rates between U.S. dollars and Swedish kronor. Black Diamond shares closed at $9.27 on Wednesday.” – marketwatch.com

Black Diamond is a climbing/skiing company out of Salt Lake City, UT (originally Ventura, CA).  

POC is a helmet, armor, and eyewear company out of Stockholm, Sweden.

POC will continue to be located in Stockholm and be operated as a separate and discrete subsidiary of Black Diamond.

POC ATHLETES:

– Tanner Hall

– Julia Mancuso

– TJ Schiller

– Jon Ollson

– Jeremy Jones

– Bode Miller

– more…

Question: Would you rather live in Stockholm or...

Some Propaganda from POC’s Founder & CEO:

“POC has had a fantastic journey since its first season in 05/06, growing fast in all major markets. To match our size and future needs, we needed to balance a demanding situation with a partner who inherently understood POC’s culture, aesthetic and mission. We had a handful of interesting proposals but it wasn’t until Black Diamond came along and I got to visit their Salt Lake City, Utah, operations that I believed that POC and Black Diamond are the perfect match.” – POC Founder and CEO Stefan Ytterborn

POC 2012:

– Made $20.6 million during the fiscal year ending April 30th, 2012

– This was a 34.7% increase from the previous year

...Salt Lake City?

BLACK DIAMOND HISTORY & INFO:

History

Black Diamond was founded on December 1, 1989, when the assets of Chouinard Equipment Ltd. were purchased by a group of former company employees that included Peter Metcalf, Maria Cranor, Meredith Saarinen, Hong Kyu Kwak, and a few outside investors. Birth of the new company was facilitated by Yvon Chouinard, who extended deadlines until financing could be arranged.

During the late 1980s, Chouinard Equipment Ltd. was the target of several liability lawsuits, mostly the result of non-climbers who alleged not that the equipment was defective, but that there was insufficient warning of the dangers of climbing. Yvon Chouinard placed the company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 1989.

On founding, the company was located in one end of the Patagonia warehouse in Ventura, California. The company moved from Ventura to the Salt Lake City, Utah, area on September 1, 1991.

Black Diamond manufactures part of its line of climbing gear in a Utah facility (including carabiners and climbing protection), but has most gear manufactured to specifications outside the US, mostly in China, and distributes Fritschi Diamir backcountry ski bindings in United States. Black Diamond purchased Bibler Tents and Ascension Enterprises to add to their line of mountaineering and backcountry skiing products.

In May 2010, Black Diamond was acquired for $90 million by Clarus Corporation, a shell company run by Warren B. Kanders, previously chief executive of Armor Holdings, a maker of bullet-proof vests and related equipment. The surviving business entity following the acquisition will be publicly traded under the name Black Diamond Equipment.[1]

Clarus Corporation also acquired Gregory Backpacks in a separate transaction with the intention of merging the two.[2] Clarus renamed itself Black Diamond, Inc.

Products

Climbing products produced by Black Diamond include carabiners, harnesses, climbing protection including both active- and passive protection, belay devices, chalk bags, helmets, ice axes and ice tools, crampons, ice protection, and bouldering pads. They also sell a line of backcountry skis and ski boots. The third major class of products they sell are mountaineering products such as tents, trekking poles and packs. – wikipedia

Answer: Ventura, CA

POC MISSION STATEMENT:

POC is a Swedish company, built on a strong mission; to do everything we can to possibly save lives and to reduce consequences of accidents, for gravity sports athletes, by developing and renewing what personal protection is all about. POC has in many ways already set a new standard when it comes to technical solutions, construction, material combinations and engineering, with patented solutions, to increase the degree of protection.

POC works in a cross scientific way, from the office in Saltsjöbaden outside of Stockholm.
The organization involves competences from different fields, such as engineers, material specialists, industrial and graphic designers, neurologists and back specialists. Stockholm is an important centre for some of Europe’s leading research and development experts in the areas of safety, medicine, health care, advanced product development and testing

“It´s our mission to do everything we can to develop protective gear that can save lives and reduce the severity of injuries.”

All our products have been tested by top world gravity sport athletes and then further refined to perfection. Our athlete friends love to go flat out but without suffering cuts, bruises and headaches, or in the worst cases, risking back or brain damage as a result of crashes that sadly happens to even the best athletes. The end result is a line of lightweight, high performance gear that offers the ultimate protection against injury thanks to superior impact absorption and penetration resistance.

When developing a product at POC, we do it in the spirit of doing the best. We never compromise in choosing materials or construction, and we never compromise safety, quality or performance.

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