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Product type | Ice hockey equipment |
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Owner | Birch Hill Equity Partners |
Country | Sweden |
Introduced | 1926 |
Website | Archived official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2004-02-03) |
Jofa is a Swedish brand of ice hockey equipment owned by Birch Hill Equity Partners through its portfolio company Sport Maska Inc. The brand originated in the company Jonssons Fabriker AB, later renamed Jofa AB, which was founded in Malung, Sweden in 1926 by Niss Oskar Jonsson (1909–2002). Jofa was a pioneer in the development of the plastic helmet, which was worn most notably by Wayne Gretzky.
Since 1973, ownership of Jofa has changed continually. That year, Jonsson sold his company to Volvo, who then sold the company in 1985 to Karhu. In 1989, Jofa was sold to Karhu's Canadian arm, Karhu Canada Inc., later renamed the Sports Holdings Corporation. The SHC was acquired in late 1998 by SLM International, which in March 1999 was renamed The Hockey Company. In 2004, Reebok acquired The Hockey Company and its portfolio of brands, which included Jofa, CCM, Koho, Titan, Canadien, and Heaton. After the sale, all brands save CCM were phased out. A year later, Adidas purchased Reebok.
In 2017, Adidas sold its hockey operations, which were consolidated in the parent company Sport Maska Inc., to the private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners. Although CCM remains Sport Maska's flagship brand, a limited number of products are sold using the Jofa name.