When Easton Hockey, the struggling equipment brand was sold this week to a New York private equity firm, it seemed its owners had pulled a rabbit out of a hat.
After all, Easton has seen better days — it had slipped from being profitable into a money-losing operation and its sales had fallen by about 50 percent over the past several years, to about $70 million, as rivals Bauer and Reebok-CCM ate its lunch, sources said.
Plus, major strategic buyers, like Reebok and Bauer, appeared to pass on the deal.
No terms of the sale were disclosed by the seller, BRG Sports, which also owns Riddell, the country’s No. 1 maker of football helmets, or the buyers, Chartwell Investments.
But the deal was far from ordinary, The Post has learned. Chartwell put up little or no money and BRG financed the sale, a source close to the situation said.
Such a deal is called a reverse play and is rare.
The loan is for roughly $20 million, the source said.
BRG’s motivation to sell to a buyer with little money may be to have a smaller balance sheet, with potentially fewer assets to target in pending lawsuits, sources said.
A 2012 suit filed by 4,500 former NFL players claiming concussion damage names Riddell and Easton-Bell as co-defendants alongside the NFL.
While the suit is still pending, a large judgment against Riddell could bankrupt the company.
For Chartwell, the deal makes perfect sense.
Damaged in 2004, when its president and founder Todd Berman pled guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to embezzling more than $3.6 million from his firm, Chartwell has not exactly been active on the acquisition front.
Of the many investments listed on its Web site, just one has been made in the post-Berman era.
As a result of the Berman criminal case — he was sentenced to five years in prison, was released in November 2009 and is no longer associated with the firm — Chartwell could not raise any new funds, the source said.
“Chartwell has no equity and no money,” the source said. “This is their comeback deal.”
Michael Shein now leads Chartwell. The firm did not return calls for comment.
Easton Hockey President and General Manager Matt Arndt told The Post he could not comment about the finances except to say it would be incorrect to report that Chartwell did not put in any money.
“I think the deal allows us to be much more entrepreneurial,” said Arndt, adding that Easton Hockey sometimes got lost among BRG’s other priorities.
The company is coming out with a new line of Stealth sticks and gloves that are lightweight and will make the business profitable, Arndt said.
Earlier this year, BRG sold its growing Easton baseball and softball helmet and bat business to Bauer Performance Sports for $330 million.
The NFL this year dropped Riddell as its official helmet maker, and has not replaced it with another maker.