Sports Authority Sold, Going Private

An investor group will buy sporting goods retailer The Sports Authority for $1.3 billion and take the 398-store chain private.

The group, led by Green Equity Investors IV (an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Leonard Green & Partners), is expected to keep Sports Authority's current executive management.

"As a private company, Sports Authority will have greater flexibility to accomplish its long-term goals," said Sports Authority CEO Doug Morton in a statement.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Englewood, CO-based Sports Authority reported sales of $1.77 billion for the 39 weeks ended Oct. 29, 2005, up 2.7% from the same period in 2004.

Nineteen-year-old Sports Authority was spun off from parent Kmart Corp. in 1995 and merged with Gart Sports in 2003 to form the biggest sporting goods chain in the U.S.