Pinarello on the verge of sale: Billionaire wants to take over luxury brand
Sebastian Lindner
· 13.06.2023
It was only at the end of 2016 that a US consortium of investors bought 79 per cent of the company shares for around 90 million euros; the rest remained with Fausto Pinarello, son of Giovanni Pinarello, who founded the company in 1952. However, as was announced at the end of 2022, the fund now wants to get rid of its shares. This is partly because Pinarello is burdened by debts totalling 60 million euros, as reported by Corriere della Sera.
Ivan Glasenberg already on board with Q36.5
It was also the Italian daily newspaper that brought the new interested party into play. Glasenberg was CEO of the Swiss company Glencore, the world's largest commodities trader, for many years until 2021 and in this position amassed the majority of his personal fortune, which according to Forbes totals 8.6 billion euros.
He used a fraction of this to join Q36.5 in autumn 2021. However, the investment in the Italian manufacturer of high-quality cycling clothing was apparently just the first step taken by the 66-year-old, who claims to be an enthusiastic triathlete, to shake up the cycling market.
No brand has more Tour de France victories than Pinarello
According to Corriere, Ivan Glasenberg visited the Pinarello factory near Treviso in May to get more than just a first impression of his future achievement. Negotiations are said to have reached an advanced stage and a competitor, the Dutch Accell Group, which owns the bicycle brands Ghost, Lapierre and Raleigh, among others, has already been beaten to the punch. Fausto Pinarello is also said to have been interested in bringing the shares back into family ownership at the beginning of the year. However, the attempt failed.
Pinarello's annual turnover in the past financial year totalled around 84 million euros, around a quarter more than in the previous year. Insiders estimate the value of the brand, on which Jan Ullrich, Miguel Indurain and the Sky and Ineos dominators of the 2010s around Chris Froome, among others, rode to 15 Tour de France victories - more than for any other bike manufacturer - at 250 to 300 million euros.
