Dunlop Slazenger was a sports equipment manufacturing company formed by BTR plc by consolidating the various sports brands acquired as part their take-over of Dunlop Holdings in 1985. The company is most recognised for its involvement in golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 and badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

 through the Dunlop

Dunlop Sport

Dunlop Sport is a tennis, squash, golf, badminton, clothing, travel and bicycle equipment brand, that specializes in sporting goods.After Dunlop Holdings was acquired by BTR plc in 1985, Dunlop Sport was combined with the Slazenger brand which Dunlop had acquired in 1959 to form Dunlop Slazenger...

, Slazenger

Slazenger

Slazenger is a British sports equipment brand name sold throughout the world, involving a variety of sporting categories namely cricket, tennis and hockey...

, Maxfli

Maxfli

Maxfli is a brand of sports equipment, most recognized for its golf balls, currently owned by Dick's Sporting Goods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's purchased the brand from TaylorMade-adidas Golf on February 11, 2008, however, the Noodle trademark and all golf ball patents remained with...

 and Carlton

Carlton Sports

Carlton Sports, a leading producer of badminton rackets and shuttlecocks was established in 1946.Carlton Sports became a subsidiary group of Dunlop Slazenger International located in Greenville, South Carolina, which is now owned by the chain of sport shops Sports World International...

 brands.

In 1996 the company was sold in a management buyout backed by private equity

Private equity

Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....

 firm Cinven

Cinven

Cinven is a British private equity firm founded in 1977 with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Hong Kong. Currently, the company has raised four funds, with the last one signing up €6.5 billion...

. This arrangement did not have a successful existence, and Dunlop Slazenger soon found itself being run by the banks, led by The Royal Bank of Scotland. Under the banks management, TaylorMade-adidas Golf took up their option to purchase the Maxfli golf brand in 2004, following a previous licensing arrangement, and the rights to Slazenger Golf in North America were sold to the Slazenger Golf Products Company.

The remainder of Dunlop Slazenger was eventually sold to Sports World International in 2004, since when the various brands have been licensed freely.