Altor to buy French ski maker Rossignol; Private equity group looks to revive and expand historic brand
July 16, 2013 Leave a comment
July 15, 2013 2:09 pm
Altor to buy French ski maker Rossignol
By Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, Private Equity Correspondent
Ski maker Rossignol has brought production back to France
Rossignol, the world’s second largest ski manufacturer by sales, is to be sold to Swedish private equity house Altor Equity Partners, after a plan to recover from near bankruptcy involved repatriating 10 per cent of its production back to France from Taiwan. The move away from a country with lower labour costs has helped the century-old French company return to profit five years after California surf gear maker Quiksilver sold it to a group led by Macquarie of Australia. Altor now plans to diversify into outdoor clothing, with the aim of doubling the company’s €207m sales to counter a contracting ski market. The value of the deal was not disclosed.Altor, which revived Norwegian outdoor clothing maker Helly Hansen, is buying Rossignol, based in Saint Jean de Moirans, near Grenoble, with the Boix-Vive family, which owned the ski maker for 50 years before selling it to Quiksilver for about $300m in 2005. Quiksilver disposed of the company three years later for less than half this price.
“Rossignol is an iconic brand . . . We are truly enthusiastic about working with the company and its management team to accelerate growth,” Hugo Maurstad, Altor partner, said.
Under the leadership of Bruno Cercley, chief executive, the company started by French carpenter Abel Rossignol in 1907, refocused on skis, cutting back on ambitions to develop clothing lines. In 2010, it decided to bring its manufacturing base closer to its main end market, Europe, to reduce transportation costs and to be more reactive to changes during the ski seasons.
Mr Cercley moved the production of bindings from Poland to its site in Nevers, France, and decided to relocate the manufacturing of about 100,000 pairs of skis from Taiwan to Sallanches, a small Alpine town near ski resorts such as Chamonix and Megève. The move, which involved the transfer of machinery and created about 40 jobs in unemployment-stricken Haute-Savoie, contrasts with the decision by its larger rival Salomon, which also started in the French Alps, to cease ski, boot and binding production in the region in 2008.
Rossignol employs about 1,221 people, half of whom are in France, and also operates sites in the US, Italy and Spain. It makes about 900,000 pairs of skis and posted €5m in profit in the year ending March 2012, up from €3m the year before, despite poor snow cover and a declining market. The group also owns Dynastar downhill skis and the Look binding brand.
About bambooinnovator
Bamboo Innovator 