Rancho Santa Margarita-based scuba training company PADI Worldwide Corp. has been acquired by Lincolnshire Management Inc. in New York on undisclosed terms.
PADI, which stands for Professional Association of Diving Instructors, had been a portfolio company of Los Angeles-based Seidler Equity Partners.
Lincolnshire manages about $1.5 billion in assets. It typically buys companies with revenues between $50 million and $500 million.
PADI has about 400 employees overall, including its corporate offices here and others in Canada, the U.K., Japan and Brazil. It gets revenue from membership fees from individuals who pay $29 a year, along with classes and dive trips it offers through more than 6,000 affiliated shops and resorts worldwide.
Local shops include Beach Cities Scuba in Cypress and Openwater Habitat training and repair facility in Santa Ana.
The company had about 136,000 individual members worldwide last year and has awarded more than 20 million certifications. It bills itself as one of “the world’s largest scuba diving training organizations.”
—Jane Yu
