Dorel announced today that it has agreed to sell Dorel Sports — its entire bicycle division — to Pon Holdings for $810 million. The deal brings Cannondale, GT, Schwinn, Mongoose, Charge, Caloi, and KidTrax under the Pon umbrella, alongside Santa Cruz, Juliana, Focus, Reserve Wheels, and more. Per Pon’s press release, the two bicycle groups have a combined revenue of about $2.9 billion, and they emphasize the importance of e-bikes for the family of brands going forward.
Given the growing need for electric bikes in all main categories, Pon Holdings strongly believes there is room and potential for a true leader in the world with a complete family of iconic and quality bike brands for daily use, for business, in leisure and in sports. The acquisition of Dorel Sports is fully in line with this vision. All brands can benefit from innovation, design, knowledge and creativity throughout the Pon.Bike group. Brands of Dorel Sports, for instance, can leverage the experience of Pon.Bike with electric bikes, combined with the high growth potential in the US. At the same time, the eCommerce experience of Dorel Sports will greatly benefit the European markets of Pon.Bike. Already 20% of Dorel Sports revenues is generated online. This rich knowledge and innovation contributes to all bike lovers in the world, especially in a time when cycling, dealers and bicycle companies can provide tangible solutions for mobility, health and sustainability challenges consumers, governments and companies face.
Cannondale and GT, in particular, are long standing brands in the mountain bike world whose popularity has waned somewhat in recent years, but both appear to be putting a strong foot forward with their new high-pivot Enduro bikes, the Jekyll and Force — both of which we should be getting time on soon. We’re curious to see if they can continue to build on that recent momentum under their new ownership, as Santa Cruz has done since being acquired in 2015.
More details can be found in the separate press releases from Pon and Dorel. And of course, we’d love to hear what you think about the deal in the comments, below.