Pinarello, the billionaire Glasenberg (Glencore) aims at made in Italy bikes – Corriere.it

We have seen that Italian cycling appealed to private equity. Now for let’s find out that billionaires like it too and the history of Pinarello proves it. In addition to the Belgian fund Rivean and the Dutch giant Accell (already owner of the Atala, Abbae, Batavus and Carraro Cicli brands), owned by Kkr, to take over Pinarello also Ivan Glasenberg, former CEO of the Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore. According to the Tribuna di Treviso, the billionaire triathlon enthusiast recently visited the factory in Fontane di Villorba (Treviso), the headquarters of the company created in 1952 by Giro d’Italia black jersey Giovanni Nani Pinarello, to buy a Bolide, the used bicycle Filippo Ganna. In reality, it seems, after having followed the Giro d’Italia, to touch the mechanisms of the Venetian factory first hand and then make contact with the advisor Houlihan Lokey.

Pinarello, who rules the bicycle society

The L Catterton cycling company was put on the market by the private equity operator born from the joint venture between L Capital (the LVMH luxury private equity firm) and Catterton, which had taken over Pinarello in 2016 with the L Catterton Europe and L Catterton funds North American growth fund and to which the majority belongs. The son of the founder, Fausto Pinarello, holds a minority stake of 19.79%. The company is led by Antonio Dus, who has a 1.05% share.

Revenue doubled

L Catterton informed of his wish to leave and so President Pinarello thought of returning to the saddle, but with a solid follower by his side. Pinarello’s turnover has almost doubled since 2015, when it was just under 50 million euros. In 2022, the turnover reached almost 84 million euros. Not the first time that finance has made its forays into the world of two wheels: at Christmas 3T, the iconic bicycle brand, had moved to the UTurn Investments family office while Alete Bikes, controlled by the private equity firm Trilantic Europe, had signed a binding agreement for acquire Cicli Esperia from the founding families Zanaga and Turato, also from the Veneto region. And then Asobi Ventures, the family office of Victor Luis, had taken over the majority of Gruppo srl, owner of the Italian bicycle manufacturer Cinelli and of the historic manufacturer of tubes for Columbus frames and in May 2020, however, the Abu Dhabi fund Chimera Investments LLC had acquired the majority of Colnago.