Update: No VanMoof bid from Former Accell Group veteran
Updating on news from earlier this week, the Brian Mogensen led consortium which had expressed interest in acquiring VanMoof, has walked away.
Asked for clarification on the decision, Mogensen told Cycling Electric, ‘There is too much wrong with this company’, at the same time suggesting that a rumoured bid by a Turkish e-mobility business called BinBin was non-binding and unlikely to meet the debt collector’s requirements.
In addition to this “Yesterday Dutch Financial paper FD revealed that at the time of its bankruptcy that VanMoof had a €144 million debt.”
Commenting on the state of the VanMoof business, 20 year industry veteran Bastian Dietz opines, “Come on, anybody buy this brand? It is such a strong brand, the apple of the bike industry. They only burned through almost 200m investment in the last years, have a tiny bit of debt, and a very few unsatisfied customers, as well as open orders that had been paid, already, but yet have to be shipped.” – a view and tone which captures much of the wider industry sentiment toward the business.
NieuwsFiets.nu reports that “Potential takeover candidates must have submitted their final offer on Wednesday morning. The curators then decide with whom they will talk exclusively in the coming days. Some haste is also called for, because the UWV will pay the salaries of the VanMoof employees until August 30. That is why the trustee wants to try to bring about a restart with the takeover of employees before that deadline.”
Finding a buyer will be one thing. Making the VanMoof business a going concern, quite another.
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Cycling Electric is reporting that industry veteran Brian Mogensen, with some 20 plus years in and around Acell Group, pre the 2022 KKR investment, is heading up a Dutch investment consortium bid for eBike brand VanMoof.
Mark Sutton, Editor of Cycling Electric, reports that, “Mogensen and a partner will later today submit a formal bid to carry the business forwards, having held talks with the founding Brothers Taco and Ties Carlier.”
Mogensen told Cycling Electric; ‘In speaking with the brothers yesterday we came to an understanding that my bid would retain both of their services, with Taco holding the role of COO and Ties CFO, while I am one of the CEOs. The buyout of the brand name will apply to all territories, including the USA. I was keen to learn more about this market, VanMoof has a big share.’
In mid July it became clear that VanMoof was facing serious financial and operational difficulties, with the news breaking that the brand had “temporarily paused sales to catch up on the production and delivery of existing orders” with Reuters reporting that VanMoof had filed for protection from creditors and has issued a statement confirming the filing. The court appointed 2 administrators to oversee the company during a 60-day cooling down period.
The business had seen a succession of successful fund raising rounds, yet continued to face growing rumours of financial difficulties, including an early 2023 report by Dutch newspaper Financieele Dagblad.
Taking a look at the firm’s provisional accounts leading to the end of 2022 it was revealed that a further cash raise was urgently sought from investors in order to guarantee the firm’s survival as the bike industry’s supply chain whipsaw caught the brand off guard. The report concluded that Q1 of 2023 would have seen the firm enter financial difficulty quickly without backup from investors.