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North Pole Stage: Growth Date of Investment: 1999
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NorthPole Limited is the largest producer of tents in the world. Headquartered in Hong Kong, NorthPole develops, manufactures, and markets outdoor sporting and travel-related products such as tents, mobile furniture, soft luggage, and backpacks for export to North America, Europe and Asia. Design and manufacturing are carried out by subsidiaries in China, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, while sales and marketing are conducted by subsidiaries in the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Denmark. NorthPole has steadily gained market share in North America by establishing partnerships with mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart Stores, Kmart Corp. and Sears. Outside of the U.S., NorthPole has also been building sales in Europe and Asia. Prior to the investment, NorthPole was a wholly owned subsidiary of Jinwoong, a publicly listed Korean company founded and controlled by Youn-Jae Lee, now the chairman and C.E.O. of NorthPole. Warburg Pincus led a financial restructuring of the company which established NorthPole as the successor to Jinwoong in 1999.
