http://www.euronews.com/sport/1501478-tennis-racquet-maker-prince-sports-files-for-bankruptcy/ Prince hasn't had a large footprint on Badminton Central. And I'm unaware of any pro who has played with a Prince in recent times. Nevertheless, they have been significant racket sport company for many years. Perhaps those who also play and string for tennis have some thoughts?
i just strung a Prince tennis racket not long ago. for the badminton side of Prince, they have had never gotten much traction, being completely overshadowed by the larger players. their signature "achievement" was the Y-joint strange shaped head that looked different but never really adopted by serious players. i always thought they have a much better traction on the tennis and squash side of things. but i guess not. this is probably not as big a loss to badminton than to tennis/squash.
I've had the chance to use two Prince rackets - the Black OS and the Black Pearl XP. Both were oversized, which gave a good advantage for me as I was beginning the grapple the finer points of the game. As time went on and the skills improved, the oversized heads gave less of an advantage though the smashes still came off pretty well because of the increased size of the sweet spot. Wrote two short reviews of the rackets on the blog: http://everythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/2011/11/badminton-racket-review-prince-black.html http://everythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-prince-oversize-black.html
LOL, what an epitaph! "I'll miss them; but they weren't that special." (I think my wife has something similar planned for my tombstone.)
It will be interesting how Nautic/Benetton/Authentic think of better ways to swap debts (parting ways from either company would be a strategy...significantly devaluing for re-acquisition). Obviously it is the better option for Prince to file for Chapter 11, strategically. Her parent company sure wouldn't want to be saddled with debts. Prince should still be around and in the clear after year 7 of Chapter 11. Below are quoted from WSJ Blogs: In the past decade, the company has changed hands through a series of private-equity deals, being acquired most recently in 2007 by Nautic Partners. Nautic bought Prince from Lincolnshire Management, which in turn had purchased it in 2003 from apparel company Benetton Group, the parent of United Colors of Benetton. The filing says the company has a book value of $54.2 million and debt of about $65 million to Authentic, along with another $12 million in debt to its vendors and other payables. But at the end of March, Authentic purchased the debt from GE Capital and Madison Capital and said it would acquire the whole company. The bankruptcy documents say the debt will be swapped for the ownership of the entire equity of Prince. On its website Authentic says it looks to acquire and manage “iconic consumer brands” in segments such as apparel and sporting goods.
i wonder i we can get any of their current rackets on the cheap. their squash rebel range looks sick!
They got so many names these days and even invent new ones just to meet specific needs. For example, mini-bonds.
