What's new? Scott USA is returning to, well, the USA--this time with a former Cannondale vice president at the helm. Answer-Manitou was sold to a new investment firm. IMBA collected all the scientific studies relating to the environmental impact of mountain biking and found that damn near all of them concluded that we're no more destructive than hikers. And you e-mailed me about pork sausage and Marco Pantani.
ANSWER-MANITOU SOLD
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Company ownership in the bike business is like one big, kinky, wife-swapping story. One day you're owned by Company X. The next day you're owned by Company Y and a minute later you're owned by Zsa Zsa Gabor or some race of giant ants from outer space. You just never know who'll be signing your paycheck next. In most cases, a change of ownership just boils down to a different set of gift coffee mugs at Christmas time. In a worst case scenario, some jackass with a degree in sociology comes along and performs some seriously debilitating interior decorating on your mission statement--completely f---ing up your product line and pissing off the rank and file. Well, right now, the folks at Answer-Manitou are saying that their new owners are more inclined to give them new coffee mugs.
Last week Answer Products was sold to Swander Pace Capital (they were previously owned by LDI, Ltd, a private investment company based in Indianapolis, Indiana). Swander Pace Capital (SPC) is a middle market buyout firm based in San Francisco, California, and Bedminster, New Jersey. The firm manages over $600 million in equity capital.
Everyone at Answer-Manitou is saying that the change in ownership will have zero impact on what they're producing. As Answer President Glenn Miller put it, "Looking ahead, it is business as usual at Answer. We have a new owner who is committed to our people, our culture and our brands. The transition to Swander Pace will allow us to be even more aggressive in our core markets. SPC is dedicated to continuing the growth we've seen over the last three years."
SPC appears to be a veritable smorgasbord of business interests, with investments in the food and beverage, food service, gift/craft, hardware, health, household products, lawn and garden, luxury goods, personal care, pet products, sporting goods and leisure industries. SPC properties include Mrs. Fields Cookies, Skateboard World Industries, Reef Brazil, snowboard binding maker Switch and Totes-Isotoner.
FORMER CANNONDALE VP NOW LEADS SCOTT USA
Over the past few weeks you've probably read that Scott USA is returning to the United States. If you're just staring blankly at the screen right now, it may be because you don't recall Scott's place in the scheme of things. Here's an abridged history.
In the nineties Scott U.S.A. was, like everybody else and their kid brother, making mountain bike stuff. They made suspension forks, hardtails, full-suspension bikes, a ton of those funky-looking aero bars for mountain bikes (now only ridden by DUI offenders), and then--POOF--in 1997 they just up and left the country.
Why did they leave the USA? A good question. My guess is that since the company had two bike brands competing against one another (Scott snatched up Schwinn in a bankruptcy/free car wash/bake sale, back in 1993), they decided to focus their efforts on the brand with greater name-recognition. This meant that Schwinn stayed alive and Scott bicycles went direct to Europe where they were ridden exclusively by flaxen haired, chain-smoking, nihilists named Udo and pensive French art-student types.
Then, as in all fairy tales, a strange, seemingly unrelated thing happened. The new management team over at Cannondale Bicycles (yeah, Cannondale went bankrupt last year and were bought by Pegasus Partners, blah, blah, blah) summarily dumped Cannondale's longtime Vice President of Marketing, Scott Montgomery, just prior to the big Interbike trade show in Vegas.
Anyhoo, Scott Montgomery was suddenly jobless. Montgomery had seen some of Scott's products over at Eurobike and was impressed with the company's new emphasis on innovation. To make a long story slightly shorter, he called up the President of Scott USA (over in Switzerland, go figure) and suggested that it was time to come back to the states. They agreed. In a press release, Beat Zaugg, president of Scott Sports Group, notes: "We have always wanted to return to North America. We felt this was the perfect time as our bicycle line has been extremely well received for years and is already sold in some 37 countries around the world. We have been getting many requests from enthusiasts in the United States asking to purchase our cycling-related products. Our brand is very strong but we did not have the right person to manage the bicycle business in the U.S.A. So when Scott Montgomery called we thought we should seriously study the project."
Last Friday, Scott Montgomery officially started work as Scott USA's U.S. bike division General Manager and Vice President. The U.S. division is based out of a 15,000-square-foot office in Sun Valley, Idaho. In 2005, the company will be selling a range of high-end mountain bikes (like the Genius RC-10 pictured here).
Scott USA will be launching the brand (35-foot trailer, demo bikes and the usual fare) at the annual Sea Otter race, April 14-18.
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