Fort Collins’ privately held OtterBox — the country’s top seller of protective cases for smartphones — could be for sale.
Citing unnamed sources, Reuters on Wednesday reported that 16-year-old Otter Products LLC has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to manage a sale that could value the company at more than $2.5 billion.
OtterBox spokesman Jordan Vater declined to comment on any potential sale. “In line with our corporate policy, we do not comment on rumors and speculation,” Vater said.
On Wednesday, the company, owned by Fort Collins entrepreneur Curt Richardson and his family, reported that for the seventh time it had earned a spot on Inc. magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s fastest-growing companies, posting three-year revenue growth of 455 percent. The company debuted on the list in 2007 with 40 employees and now employs more than 800 in the United States, Ireland and Hong Kong.
In 2012, Inc. magazine reported OtterBox took in $573.9 million in revenue and employed 600 workers, up from $10.8 million in 2008. Moody’s Investors Service reported the company had $925 million in sales in 2013.
In May 2013, OtterBox acquired rival LifeProof. The deal was one of its first major acquisitions and cemented OtterBox’s status as the top provider of protective cases for smartphones and tablets. Last April, the company paid the U.S. government $4.3 million in fines to settle claims it underpaid custom duties during rapid global expansion.
Richardson started the company in 1998 with a single waterproof phone case.
Today OtterBox has eight lines of protective cases for smartphones and tablets, screen protectors, dry boxes and accessories for military technology.
In 2011, Richardson and his wife, Nancy, founded Blue Ocean Holdings LLC in Fort Collins, committing capital to new businesses and investing in commercial real estate. Today it boasts investments in a dozen Fort Collins-area businesses and owns more than 400,000 square feet of commercial property.
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins
