First Islamic Group acquires premier US sporting goods company

First Islamic arranged the combination of Yakima Products, Inc., a leading manufacturer of multi-sport racks and rack accessories for automobiles, and WaterMark Paddlesports, Inc., the largest manufacturer of kayaks and paddle sports accessories in the world. The two companies are held through a holding company - Destination Outdoors, Inc.

Yakima designs, manufactures and markets premium quality sports equipment, collectively branded as Destination Hardware. Yakima is one of the premier outdoor lifestyle brands in North America, and its products include multi-sport racks and rack accessories for automobiles, child and cargo trailers, snowshoes and child joggers.

WaterMark was formed by First Islamic and its co-investors in 1998 through the merger of two of the largest producers of kayaks in the United States, Perception and Dagger. With the merger, First Islamic initiated the consolidation of the highly fragmented paddle sports industry.

Destination Outdoors represents a strong platform for add-on products and acquisitions due to its world-class manufacturing, distribution, information systems and product development capabilities.

Atif A. Abdulmalik, First Islamic's Chief Executive Officer, said "If the company can grow sales organically and through acquisitions to more than $200 million, it should become an attractive IPO candidate. The company has completed two add-on acquisitions recently and has identified a number of other acquisition candidates."

Mohamed A. Nooruddin, Executive Director, Investment Placement, said "Both Yakima and WaterMark are leaders in their respective niche markets and have distribution and manufacturing synergies that should contribute to substantial cost efficiencies."