Gazelle and Cannondale merge to form world's largest bicycle manufacturer

Dutch bicycle manufacturer Pon.Bike is taking over its American competitor Dorel Sports to form, according to themselves, the largest bicycle manufacturer in the world. The merger teams up both consumer brands (like Pon’s Gazelle and Dorel’s Schwinn) and specialised race bikes (Cervélo and Cannondale).

Joint turnover of 2.5 billion euros

Pon.Bike pays 810 million dollars (700 million euros) for brands like Cannondale, Schwinn (the most popular bicycle brand in the United States), GT, Caloi and IronHorse. Their combined worldwide sales are worth 1.2 billion dollars (around one billion euros) annually. The deal should be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2022, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports.

The takeover will make Pon.Bike the largest bike manufacturer in the world, with an annual turnover of around 2.5 billion euros. At the moment, Giant from Taiwan is still the world market leader: the company sells 2.1 billion euros worth of bicycles annually.

Transformation

Over the past decade, Pon has increasingly focused on the bicycle market: it began with the acquisition of the Dutch manufacturer Gazelle in 2012. It later added Kalkhoff and Focus from Germany, Cervélo and Santa Cruz in the United States, and Urban Arrow and BBB Cycling in the Netherlands. The holding also tried to acquire its competitor Accell (owner of Batavus, Sparta and Koga), but that takeover attempt failed.

Pon is primarily known as the importer of Volkswagen brands in the Netherlands. However, the company now offers a whole range of mobility solutions: the holding company also owns Swapfiets (bicycle leasing) and is a shareholder of car-sharing company Greenwheels.

Pon’s development shows some similarities with the company D’Ieteren in Belgium. However, the Dutch company is already much further along in the process. Last week the Brussels-based Volkswagen importer announced its intention to develop a chain of bicycle stores with national coverage. Through start-up incubator Lab Box, D’Ieteren was also involved in the development of Poppy (carsharing), second-hand leasing platform Lizy and mobility app Skipr.