Lululemon Athletica Inc.

founder Chip Wilson sold US$159.7 million worth of stock in Amer Sports Inc., his latest move to monetize his equity holdings.

Wilson sold just over 4 million shares in the maker of baseball bats and tennis rackets, equivalent to about 0.7 per cent of Amer, on Aug. 25, according to a regulatory filing. It didn’t say how he plans to use the money.

The transaction came just weeks after Wilson pledged Lululemon shares in return for cash for the third time in just over a year, freeing him to spend on other matters. He has access to more than US$500 million from different banks. There’s no indication that he’s pledged any of his shares in Amer.

Wilson was part of a consortium led by China’s largest athletic-apparel producer Anta Sports Products Ltd. that acquired Amer, in 2019, aiming to bring high-end athletic equipment to China’s increasingly wealthy middle class.

Amer, which is based in Helsinki, went public on the

New York Stock Exchange

last year. Its shares have more than tripled since then. Wilson’s 18 per cent stake in the company today makes up roughly half of his US$8 billion fortune, according to the

Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bloomberg previously reported that Anamered Investments, an entity Wilson controls, was looking to sell as much as US$163 million worth of Amer shares in an unregistered block sale.

Bloomberg.com