Accell Group Expanding in Belgium

HEERENVEEN, The Netherlands - Accell Group is to take over all shares in Brasseur Bicycles. Brasseur SA is a trading company in bicycles, bicycle parts and accessories in Liège, Belgium. 15 people are working at the company that had a profitable 2006 turnover of about € 9 million.

Brasseur Bicycles has an extensive dealer network in the French-speaking region of Belgium, an interesting market for Accell Group, in which it had no local activities until now. Expectations are that the takeover will contribute directly to the earnings per share of Accell Group and consolidation will take place from 1 February 2007. René Takens, CEO of Accell Group: “Brasseur is the biggest player in the market for bicycles and bicycle parts in Wallon. That is the region of Belgium in which we were not yet locally represented. Cooperation between Brasseur and Accell companies such as Juncker and Wiener Bike Parts will present synergy in areas such as portfolio management, logistics and purchasing. Moreover, this takeover offers other Accell companies the opportunity to distribute their bicycles via Brasseur in the future, and vice versa. We are delighted with this new extension of our activities and expect to complete the acquisition in the coming weeks.”
Brasseur (www.brasseur-bicycles.com) is the exclusive distributor of a number of quality brands of bicycle parts and accessories, and supplies the specialised professional trade, in the same way as Accell Group. The Brasseur brands of bicycles, including Viper, Diamond and GT, are positioned in the medium and high segments of the market and are also well in line with the existing portfolio of Accell Group. Brasseur has an extensive dealer network that includes virtually all recognised bicycle stores in the Wallon region of Belgium.