Finden-Crofts's MBO Bid For Derby Accepted

LAS VEGAS, USA (October 1)- The bondholders of Derby Cycle Corporation accepted Alan Finden-Crofts' MBO bid for the company that filed Chapter 11 last month. Alan Finden-Crofts and his partners within the MBO vehicle called Cycle Bid Co. remained as the last bidder and will soon become the new owners of the Derby Cycle Corporation. Bicycle industry veteran Finden-Crofts will own 42 percent of the controlling shares of the new company. Another 16 percent of the shares will be in the hands of eight international Derby country managers (two percent each for two US, one UK, one German and one South African manager). The other 42 percent (non-voting) shares will be in the hands of investors Perseus Partners, Thayer Capital and Soros Equity Partners. It is expected that on October 2 the responsible US Federal Bankruptcy Court in Delaware will announce the takeover of Derby Cycle Corporation. The final deadline for the sale of Derby Cycle Corporation was set for September 28. The deadline was postponed due to the number of final bidders. At the Las Vegas Interbike Show Bike Europe interviewed Alan Finden-Crofts about the ongoing procedures during the last weeks. According to Finden-Crofts several others companies stepped into the bidding for Derby Cycle Corp. Wintersport company Head spent much time in a planned takeover but never actually made an offer for Derby. The Trek USA Group came in, went away, came back and worked on an eventually takeover in combination with Dutch Accell Group. Pacific Cycle was also interested before their takeover of Schwinn/GT. Then Pacific's competitor Huffy came in at the last minute when they failed to acquire Schwinn/GT, Finden-Crofts explained. “It was Huffy that made a bid of only US$ 8 million for the US business,” said Finden-Crofts. He continued, “But selling only the US business would mean the liquidation of the entire overseas business of Derby Cycle. Nevertheless due to Huffy's bid we had to raise our offer from US$ 20 million to US$ 23 million. After that Huffy quit the bidding. Therefore we are at this moment the only bidder left", Finden-Crofts adds. The total purchase price for Derby Cycle Corporation including all debts and liabilities will run between US$ 74 to 75 million. At the Raleigh USA booth in Interbike Finden-Crofts said that he will restructure the company but he did not reveal any details. However it’s no secret that these changes are mainly targeted at Derby in the UK, Germany and South Africa. Details about the restructuring will be announced soon.(JB)