Swiss bicycle industry specialist Netcycle AG says its joint takeover bid for Ghost Bikes and E. Wiener Bike Parts, both subsidiaries of the insolvent Accell Group, has been rejected. Ghost will cease operations, terminate all employment contracts and sell its remaining stock en bloc,
French sports retailer Decathlon has taken a stake in VoltR, a French company that builds new lithium-ion batteries from cells recovered from used e-bike, e-scooter and power tool batteries.
German bicycle manufacturer Böttcher Fahrräder has filed for insolvency. Operations continue in full swing as administrator launches investor process. .
The transfer of Accell Group to the new owner, the Singapore-based investment firm DuTech Group, passed another regulatory milestone. The Polish anti-competition authorities, UOKiK, identified no concerns significant enough to justify remedies or prohibit the transaction, and therefore approved the acquisition.
From pre-IPO acquirers to non-traditional investors and aftermarket economics, the next opportunity for bike startups may sit outside traditional cycling. After the capital reset, the cycling industry has been asking: when will investors come back? But maybe that is the wrong question.
Investors expect their investments to appreciate in value. Over the past decade, well-managed private equity funds have generally doubled the capital invested for their investors over the term of the investment, after deducting their own, usually very attractive, fees. However, this requires that the company's value also rise sharply during the investment period, more than doubling. These average times-two money multiples also include investments that perform poorly or even fail, for example, due to insolvency. What is the secret behind investment funds' value creation?
