Amer Sports, owner of the Wilson and Salomon brands, is considering raising up to $1.8 billion through a U.S. initial public offering, sources said

Amer Sports, the maker of Wilson tennis rackets and Salomon ski boots, is looking to raise up to $1.8 billion in a U.S. initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company could market about 100 million shares worth $16 to $18 each, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Terms of the potential offer could be announced as early as the coming days, the people said.

Details of the stock sale, including size and timing, could change, the people said. A representative for Amer Sports was not immediately able to comment.

The listing would be the largest in the U.S. since a series of initial public offerings, led by semiconductor designer Arm Holdings' $5.23 billion offering in September, failed to produce a hoped-for market rebound.

An Anta Sports store in Wuhan, China. A consortium led by Anta acquired Amer Sports in 2019 for around $5.2 billion. Photo: Shutterstock

While Arm shares have since gained 54 percent from the offer price, Birkenstock Holding had gained less than 1 percent as of Friday, while Instacart and Klaviyo remained well below their offer prices.

The biggest IPO since Birkenstock's $1.48 billion listing in October was the $1 billion offering of American depositary shares by investors in Kazakh mobile app company Kaspi.kz. Also this month, Smith Douglas Homes raised around $162 million.

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Stock sales are planned this week for KKR-backed BrightSpring Health Services and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company CG Oncology. Including the sale of convertible notes, BrightSpring aims to raise up to $1.36 billion on Thursday, a day after pricing CG Oncology's listing with a target of $212 million.

Amer Sports, which is backed by China's largest sportswear maker Anta Sports Products, owns brands such as Louisville Slugger baseball bats, Arc'teryx outdoor gear and Atomic winter gear.

Founded in Finland, Amer Sports has expanded its own retail presence to include 138 Arc'teryx stores, 114 Salomon stores and nine Wilson stores as of September 30. The company has also noted that Greater China is a growth location, generating nearly a fifth of its total sales in the first nine months of 2023, with “significant growth opportunities in the region” as the company opens more stores and expands its e-commerce Platform scales, according to its documents.

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The company posted a net loss of about $115.6 million on revenue of $3.05 billion in the nine months ended Sept. 30, according to filings. The company sees a combined market opportunity of approximately $522 billion for its brands by 2022.

Amer Sports has more than 10,800 employees worldwide and offices in Helsinki, Munich, Krakow and Shanghai, according to a statement.

A consortium led by Anta acquired Amer Sports in 2019 for about $5.2 billion to provide high-quality sports equipment to China's increasingly wealthy middle class. The group of buyers also included Tencent Holdings and Chip Wilson, the billionaire founder of yoga clothing retailer Lululemon Athletica.

The Amer Sports IPO is led by Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. The company plans to trade its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AS.