Amer Sports, maker of Wilson tennis rackets and Salomon boots, seeks IPO that could raise $1.8 billion

In a listing that could further accelerate the pace of IPOs after a two-year slump, Amer Sports is selling 100 million shares at $16 to $18 each, the company said in a statement Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. Underwriters can sell an additional 15 million shares if there’s enough demand. 

The listing would be the biggest in the U.S. since a crop of IPOs led by semiconductor designer Arm Holdings Plc’s $5.23 billion offering in September failed to deliver a hoped-for rebound in the market. 

While Arm’s shares have since gained 54% from the offer price, Birkenstock Holding Plc had gained less then 1% as of Friday, while Instacart and Klaviyo Inc. remained well below their offer prices.

The largest IPO since Birkenstock’s $1.48 billion listing in October was Thursday’s $1 billion offering of American depositary shares by investors in Kazakhstan mobile app company Kaspi.kz. Also this month, Smith Douglas Homes Corp. raised about $162 million.

This week, KKR & Co.-backed BrightSpring Health Services Inc. and clinical stage biopharmaceutical company CG Oncology Inc. are scheduled for share sales. Including a sale of convertible securities, BrightSpring is seeking to raise as much as $1.36 billion on Thursday, the day after CG Oncology’s listing targeting $212 million is set to price.

Amer Sports, which is backed by China’s largest athletic-apparel producer Anta Sports Products Ltd., owns brands including Louisville Slugger baseball bats, Arc’teryx outdoor gear and Atomic winter equipment.

From Finland to China

Three existing investors in the company — Anta, Anamered Investments Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. — have agreed to buy shares at the offering price, according to a regulatory filing Monday. Anta and…