Denver’s Old Tom Capital no longer lead bidder to buy TaylorMade

Denver-based financial group is no longer leading bidder for Korean-owned TaylorMade

By Jim Bebbington

Old Tom Capital, the Denver and Atlanta based golf investment group, failed to secure financing for its $3.1 billion bid to purchase of Korean-owned golf manufacturing goliath TaylorMade, Korean-based financial media has reported.

TaylorMade is majority owned by a Korean investment fund, Centroid Investment, which is seeking to sell the golf manufacturing company. Old Tom Capital became the leading bidder to buy TaylorMade this past winter after a partner in the current TaylorMade ownership group dropped out. Old Tom Capital bid a reported $3.1 billion for the TaylorMade assets.

But last week the Seoul Economic Daily reported that Old Tom Capital failed to secure the financing to close on the purchase. A current investor in TaylorMade, the Korea-based fashion brand F & F, has resumed efforts to buy the company from Centroid, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. F & F has raised its offer for TaylorMade to around $2.8 billion, according to reports.

Other Korean media reports state that Old Tom has contacted F & F to invest in the final deal. F & F sources were quoted as saying that was inaccurate.

TaylorMade is one of the world’s largest golf brands and sponsors some of the top players in men’s and women’s professional golf – Nelly Korda, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and others. It has been owned by Centroid since 2021, and its operations are based in Carlsbad, Calif.

Old Tom Capital is an investment company created by Matthew Erley of Denver and his partner Evan Roosevelt of Atlanta. It has primarily focused investments on new golf concepts. Erley declined comment for this story.