The emblem of e-bike producer VanMoof is seen on a bicycle in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on August 17, 2023. Portal/Piroschka van de Wouw acquires license rights
LONDON/AMSTERDAM, Aug 31 (Portal) – Lavoie, the electrical scooter division of System One engineering and expertise firm McLaren Utilized, mentioned on Thursday it had agreed to purchase the bankrupt Dutch premium e-bike firm Producer VanMoof to purchase and spend money on stabilizing and increasing its enterprise.
Lavoie and McLaren Utilized didn’t disclose phrases of the acquisition, however McLaren Utilized chairman Nick Fry advised Portal that together with the capital wanted to stabilize VanMoof, there could be an funding of “tens of tens of millions of kilos” within the “brief time period.”
“It is a large alternative for us as this (VanMoof) is an organization with a superb product,” Fry mentioned. “But it surely received’t be a stroll within the park, it’s additionally an organization that finds itself in a troublesome monetary scenario.”
VanMoof’s court-appointed trustees, who oversaw the chapter course of, confirmed the sale and mentioned they had been happy with the result.
“Additional info relating to the continuation of companies for VanMoof drivers can be introduced shortly after September 4,” trustees Jan Padberg and Robin de Wit mentioned in an announcement.
Fry mentioned McLaren Utilized – which was purchased from McLaren Group by personal fairness agency Greybull Capital in 2021 – will retain VanMoof’s division heads and “interact and retain or re-hire among the nice individuals” who run the Dutch e-bike -Producers employed.
However he mentioned there can be some layoffs and below new management, VanMoof will abandon its mannequin of in-house retail shops and as a substitute use third-party sellers to promote and repair bikes, opening up new markets world wide for potential patrons.
QUALITY PROBLEMS
VanMoof, identified for its modern, minimalist designs, was declared bankrupt on July 18. The corporate bought round 200,000 electrical bikes for greater than 2,000 euros ($2,176) every earlier than going bankrupt, partly attributable to excessive upkeep prices.
As gross sales boomed in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, VanMoof raised greater than $180 million from buyers together with personal fairness agency Hillhouse and Silicon Valley enterprise capital fund Norwest Enterprise Companions.
Different suitors for VanMoof included Nasdaq-listed Micromobility.com (MCOM.O).
VanMoof additionally struggled with high quality points, which McLaren Utilized’s Fry mentioned damage gross sales. However the bike maker had fastened these issues with new fashions that it was unable to carry to market earlier than submitting for chapter.
McLaren Utilized will now promote these fashions, Fry mentioned.
McLaren Utilized not too long ago launched premium e-scooter model Lavoie. The scooters fold and unfold with the push of a button and price from 1,890 kilos ($2,409). Deliveries will start in earnest within the fourth quarter.
Fry mentioned Lavoie will promote e-bikes below the VanMoof model and is contemplating rebranding its personal scooters below the identical title.
“VanMoof has an extremely loyal following,” he mentioned. “So it’s 100% sure that we are going to hold the VanMoof model and the way we mix it with Lavoie nonetheless must be clarified.”
Reporting by Nick Carey; Edited by David Holmes
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