Italian bike brand and Ineos Grenadiers sponsor Pinarello has been sold by private equity firm L Catterton to a private office, with reports suggesting that the buyer is former Glencore CEO and Q36.5 investor Ivan Glasenberg.
News of the sale was shared officially by L Catterton on Thursday 29th June, while terms of the transaction were not disclosed. However, reports in the Gazzetta dello Sport confirm that Glasenberg is the new owner with rumours that the transaction price was around €200 million.
The confirmation of the sale follows rumours of interest from the mining billionaire earlier this month when he was spotted visiting the Pinarello factory to collect a Pinarello Bolide, months after L Catterton had the brand valued at €250 million and began to look for a potential buyer.
Glasenberg has an estimated fortune of $8.5bn and is known to be an avid cyclist and triathlete. He also only narrowly missed competing in the 1984 Olympics in race walking. He is already a key investor in cycling clothing brand and UCI Pro Team sponsor Q36.5.
While the details of the transaction have not been shared, Fausto Pinarello will retain an interest in the company and remain in his current position as Chairman.
“With L Catterton’s global platform and their expertise in fitness, outdoor, and luxury, Pinarello has grown its status as an elite performance brand at the apex of the cycling industry,” Fausto Pinarello said.
“Over the past seven years with L Catterton’s partnership and capabilities, we have built on our best-in-class R&D capabilities, bolstered by collaborations with the industry’s top riders and organizations, creating a product set that remains consistently at the forefront of innovation,” he continued. “We have also achieved record revenues and are now poised for our next era of growth.”
The sale marks impressive growth for the cycling brand since its acquisition by L Catterton, in partnership with luxury giant LVMH, in 2016 for a reported €90m.
The Italian brand was founded in 1952 by Fausto Pinarello’s father Giovanni, using winnings from the maglia nera jersey for finishing in last place in the general classification at the Giro d’Italia.
The family privately owned the brand until the 2016 sale, though Fausto Pinarello retained, and continues to retain, 19.79% of the business while the wider family has stepped away from the brand. He reportedly attempted to take the business back into his control earlier this year, saying to Italian business media he was “thinking about it carefully,”
Pinarello’s sponsorship of Team Sky, and subsequently Ineos Grenadiers, has proved an exceptionally successful partnership marked by Tour de France wins with Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome and Egan Bernal. Yet it only marks the latest chapter in what has been a long history in WorldTour racing with 16 wins at the Tour de France alone.
The impressive rise of the brand in recent years is in stark contrast to considerable financial troubles for a number of other bike brands struggling with a post-COVID slump in sales with brands such as Planet X and Parlee entering administration or bankruptcy proceedings.
The Gazzetta dello Sport reports that South African Glasenberg will be based in the Pinarello offices in Treviso next week to begin his stewardship of the business.
