AIMERE, Netherlands (BRAIN) — Pon Holdings has purchased 338,121 ordinary shares in Accell Group N.V., giving it a total of 5,332,769 ordinary shares, representing 20 percent of the company's shares.
Earlier this month Pon had said it planned to make a partial offer in cash for 20 percent of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in Accell Group. But now that it has purchased the ordinary shares on the open market it has withdrawn its offer.
Pon Holdings is one of the Netherlands' largest family-owned businesses, with nearly 13,000 employees. It's active in several markets, including automotive, construction vehicles and machinery, and the shipping industry. Its bike division, called Pon Bike, is the parent of Cervélo, Santa Cruz, Juliana, Focus, Univega (in some markets), Gazelle, Faraday, Kalkhoff and Union.
Accell Group's brands include Haibike, Winora, Batavus, Sparta, Koga, Lapierre, Ghost, Raleigh, Diamondback, Tunturi, Atala, Redline, Loekie and XLC. Accell Group and its subsidiaries employ approximately 3,000 people in 18 countries worldwide. In 2017, Accell Group sold about 1.3 million bicycles and recorded sales of more than 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion).