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French ski firm Rossignol has bought Felt Bicycles of the US. Felt has annual sales of $60+ million.
"If we can double that (sales figure) within five years, it would not be bad," Rossignol CEO Bruno Cercley told Reuters.
Rossignol bought French bike maker Time Sport International in 2015, a business that generates annual sales of $10.8 million.
The global bicycle market is growing at between 2 and 4 percent per year, according to Cercley.
In a press statement, Cercley said: “Cycling is a very natural extension of Rossignol’s business, given its overlap in participating geographies, consumers and distribution channels as well as complementarity in seasonality."
He added: "While we will work at continuously strengthening the Felt brand globally, we will leverage our common expertise to launch a new range of Rossignol mountain bikes during 2018.”
Felt Bicycles president Bill Duehring said: “Felt shareholders are confident that this move will accelerate the development of the brand in this growing bicycle world. I’m incredibly excited about Felt Bicycles and Rossignol joining together. If you look at both companies we have a long history of supporting athletes, learning from our athletes and putting this knowledge into designing great cutting edge products. With similar consumers and markets it’s very exciting to think of the great things we can do together.”
He added: "It’s never been a better time to be part of the cycling industry – with more people than ever riding bikes to achieve their personal best in competitive events, improving their health or simply spending time with their friends and family outdoors."
