Accell rejects proposal by Pon Holdings to create leading global bike company

Dutch Bike company Accell Group has rejected an all cash offer from trading group Pon Holdings, one of the Netherlands' biggest family businesses. The aborted combination would have created a global leading bicycle maker.

"Pon Holding's offer does not sufficiently reflect the future value creation of Accell Group and the expected synergies," said Accell in its press release.

"Accell has decided to reject this new proposal and to suddenly break off the discussions," said Pon Holdings. It firstly proposed a public offer for all shares of Accell Group at 32.72 euros (35.67 U.S. dollars) per share in cash. On April 29 it raised the offer price to 33.72 euros.

Pon Holdings initiated discussions in March to combine Accell Group with its own bicycle activities. "The combination results in the world's leading global bicycle company, with headquarters in the Netherlands and with sufficient scale to be the long-term winner in the industry," it said.

Accell, which owns the Batavus, Koga and Sparta brands, focuses on the mid-range and higher segments of the market for bicycles and bicycle parts and accessories.

Its shares, traded at Euronext Amsterdam, was priced at 21 euros in March before Pon announced its proposal. In 2016, Accell sold around 1.5 million bicycles and recorded a turnover of over 1 billion euros.

Pon Holdings operates in a large number of markets relating to vehicles, bicycles, trucks, tires, road and machinery. Its bicycle division consists of more than 10 bicycle brands. In 2017 it expects to sell some 800,000 Pon bikes with a total revenue of about 700 million euros. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Enditem