Adidas’ Largest Shareholder Groupe Bruxelles Lambert Takes Majority Stake In Canyon…

German bicycle brand Canyon has sold a majority stake in its Koblenz-based business to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL). This follows the termination of investment from U.S.-based TSG Consumer Partners earlier this year. TSG had been a minority investor since 2016 having come on board to help the consumer-direct brand launch in the U.S. market.

Canyon Bicycles GmbH was formed in 2001 by 58-year-old Roman Arnold, and was the new company name for Rad-Sport Arnold, a large bike shop in Koblenz founded in 1985 as RTI Sports, a distributor of Italian road-bike parts. (RTI Sports was co-founded by Roman’s brother Franc, who later founded Ergon, the grips-to-saddles brand, also based out of Koblenz.)

Rad-Sport Arnold sold an own-label bike line called Radical, the name of which was changed to Canyon in 1996. The company started designing its own Asia-made bikes in 1998.

Based in Brussels, GBL is the largest shareholder in athletic shoe brand adidas.

In the past seven years, Canyon’s average growth has been 25% per year. In fiscal year 2020, growth was over 30% with sales of €400 million.

“We’ve become a global, digital champion through steady success,” said Arnold.

“Now is the right time to go further on the offensive, to take advantage of all the opportunities—and they are many,” he added.

GBL CEO Ian Gallienne said: “Canyon has an incredible track record, a strong team and great potential.”

Arnold retains 40% of Canyon’s shares. As well as the majority stake from GBL, there is additional investment from Tony Fadell of digital technologies company Future Shape. Fadell is a former SVP of Apple’s iPod division.

The transactions are expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2021, once the necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained, said a Canyon statement.

Earlier this year Arnold stepped aside as CEO to become the chair of the newly formed Canyon Advisory Board. He was replaced as CEO by Armin Landgraf, the former CEO of Pon Bike, the parent of bicycle brands Cervélo, Focus, and Santa Cruz.

In September, Canyon announced it would be producing a microcar.