One of northern Fairfield County”™s best-known brands is riding into the arms of a Canadian company, after Bethel-based Cannondale Bicycle Corp. agreed to a $200 million buyout offer.
Montreal-based Dorel Industries Ltd. said it would use its acquisition of Cannondale to create a new division focusing on sales to independent bicycle dealers. Dorel”™s existing Pacific Cycle operations will focus on sales to mass merchants.
“Dorel recognizes the importance and potential of the independent bicycle dealer channel and is purchasing Cannondale as the first step to become the world”™s No. 1 IBD player,” said Martin Schwartz, CEO of Dorel, in a prepared statement.
Cannondale had $200 million in sales for its fiscal 2007 year. In the third quarter of 2007, Dorel had a $26 million profit on $440 million in revenue.
Joe Montgomery founded Cannondale above a Bethel pickle factory in 1971 selling biking bags and the industry”™s first bicycle trailer. The company took its moniker from the Cannondale train station in Wilton, when an employee ordered telephone service from a payphone there and was asked for a corporate name for the invoice.
Cannondale sold its first bicycle in 1983, and in 1995 held an initial public offering of stock. Finding itself in a financial pickle following a failed attempt to add dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles, the company reorganized under bankruptcy protection in 2003 and found a buyer for its mainstay bicycle operation in Greenwich-based Pegasus Capital Advisors. A year ago, NBA star LeBron James purchased an undisclosed stake in the company.
Besides its Bethel headquarters, Cannondale has a manufacturing facility in Bedford, Pa.
Local Cannondale dealers include:
Ӣ Bethel Cycle & Fitness L.L.C.;
Ӣ Brookfield Bicycle Center;
Ӣ Greenwich Bicycles;
Ӣ Ski Market in Danbury;
Ӣ TargetTraining L.L.C. of Westport; and
Ӣ Westport Bicycles.
