Crocs, Inc., a world leader in casual footwear for women, men and children, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire HeyDude, a privately-owned casual footwear brand, for $2.5 billion.
“With the acquisition of HeyDude, we are thrilled to add another high-growth, highly profitable brand to our portfolio,” said Andrew Rees, chief executive officer of Crocs. “We believe HeyDude’s casual, comfortable and lightweight products are aligned to long-term consumer trends and are a perfect fit for Crocs. We intend to leverage our global presence, best-in-class marketing and scale infrastructure to build upon HeyDude’s strong foundation and create significant shareholder value. We truly admire the business that founder Alessandro Rosano has built and are honored to welcome the HeyDude team to Crocs.”
HeyDude Founder and CEO Alessandro Rosano said, “We founded HeyDude in Italy in 2008, to develop comfortable, versatile and accessible footwear. We are proud of the brand we built and are honored to become a part of Crocs, a company perfectly positioned to take HeyDude to the next level. We have long admired the Crocs business and are excited to have them bring HeyDude’s comfort, craftsmanship, and style to consumers globally.”
Crocs Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Anne Mehlman said, “HeyDude has experienced incredible growth in revenue and profits over the past few years. HeyDude is expected to be immediately accretive to our high revenue growth, industry-leading operating margins and earnings. We expect the combined business to generate significant free cash flow, enabling us to quickly deleverage while investing to support future growth. We are excited about the combination and are confident in our ability to deliver long-term shareholder value.”
Upon completion of the transaction, HeyDude will operate as a standalone division. Rosano will continue to lead innovative product development as strategic advisor and creative director. As part of this transaction, Rick Blackshaw was hired to join HeyDude as executive vice president and brand president. Blackshaw brings over 25 years of footwear experience and most recently served as the CEO at CCM Hockey and previously held positions as the president of Sperry, president of Keds and vice president/general manager of the Chuck Taylor division of Converse. Mr. Blackshaw will be a member of the Crocs executive leadership team and report to CEO Andrew Rees.
Citi served as financial advisor to Crocs, with Perkins Coie LLP and Bird & Bird as legal advisors. LVC Asia Pacific Ltd. served as financial advisor to HeyDude, with Chiomenti, Deacons, Cozen O’Connor, Sullivan & Cromwell and Croon Law Group LLC as legal advisors.
