PRINT THIS PAGE Cinven exits troublesome Dunlop investment06/02/2004. Source: AltAssets. 
 Cinven has sold sports brand Dunlop Slazenger for a fraction of the price that the private equity firm originally invested. Mike Ashley, the founder of retail chain Sports Soccer, is reported to have paid between £35m and £40m for the company, which Cinven acquired in a management buy-out for £370m in 1996.
At the time of Cinven's acquisition, Dunlop Slazenger was burdened with in the region of £300m of debt. Cinven wrote off £70m when it was forced to hand the company over to banks in 2001. The company has now returned to profitability.
'The brands have been surviving on limited available cash but these kinds of global brands need real investment,' Richard Krejewski, a partner at KPMG who worked on the deal told the Financial Times. 'Management has done what it could but now it's time to push the business forward.'
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