Two of the most highly regarded bicycle wheel brands are to come under the same umbrella, as Mavic’s parent company Amer Sports has announced its acquisition of Enve in a reported $50 million cash deal this week.
“After owning the business for over ten years and growing the company to the strong brand that exists today, the ENVE owners felt that Amer Sports would be good stewards of the brand and a great home for our employees,” said ENVE CEO, Sarah Lehman.
What does this mean for the two wheel brands? Nothing much to begin with. It’ll be business as usual and Enve will remain in Ogden in the US where the company manufacturers most of its rims, handlebars and hubs, while Mavic is based in Annecy, France.
Amer Sports is a Finnish company focused on sporting goods. It portfolio also includes Suunto, Salomon, Arc’teryx to name a few. Its US headquarters is, interesting, in Ogden, the same town as Enve.
It wouldn’t surprise us if there is some cross-pollination of technology and distribution looking ahead, and Enve will be able to utilise Mavic’s distribution network and dealers to increase sales.
“ENVE will complement the Mavic brand and enable ENVE to grow internationally,” adds the press release.
In other Enve news, the company has recently issued a voluntary recall for its Carbon Fibre Road Fork 2.0 Disc 1.25”. The recall effects about 600 units. You can tell if your fork is effected by looking for one of the following numbers on the serial number, located on the steerer tube:
VCT1406, VCT1410, VCT1411, VCT1501, VCT1502, VCT1503, VCT1505, VCT1506, VCT1507, VCT1508, VCT1509 and VCT1510
Why the recall? There have been reports of five forks cracking at the disc brake mount. No injuries as a result of this failure have been reported. Enve obviously urges customers to stop using the fork and states it will be contacting every customer who bought the fork directly. If you bought it from a shop, the best thing is to take it back to them. Or you contact Enve at fork-recall@enve.com
Enve will be offering a full refund or a replacement Road Fork 2.0 Disc 1.5in fork and headset, though that’ll only fit your frame if the head tube is compatible.
4 thoughts on “Enve acquired by Mavic parent company – and Enve recalls 600 forks”
Reduce competition
Is usually a factor in these horizontal acquisitions…
All cash? I seriously hope
All cash? I seriously hope that it was 50 million in a suitcase!
netclectic wrote:
M&A trade jargon, vs (for example) a deal where seller(s) receive shares in buyer. There’s not a lot out there about the deal generally. Although $50m might look like a lot, it would not be unusual to find that there are other claims on this money, e.g. debts to discharge (for manufacturing facility, for example), revolving capital facility, potentially equity due to principal backers outside management (VC house). Founders and small group of management will probably have done well (reflecting/just rewarf for risk taken when establishing the business back in 2005). Would be surprised if Amer didn’t require them to reinvest so as to remain incentivised to continue to drive business, although something of an issue as to whether you incentivise them by reference to Mavic (most likely but query whether roll over Enve management have necessary control) or just Enve (which would potentially encourage infighting with Mavic).
“There have been reports of
“There have been reports of five forks cracking at the disc brake mount”
Pleased that I didn’t jump on that bandwagon on day 1.