BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
An official announcement will be made on Monday.
As predicted on bikebiz.co.uk, the new owner is the Taiwanese company which expressed an interest in buying Sturmey Archer before Lenark came on the scene.
Derby did not sell to this company because it believed it would receive a lot of flak for selling a venerable British brand to a Taiwanese company. Instead, Derby were persuaded to do a deal with Lenark, the directors of which promised to continue with the factory relocation to Calverton and to keep jobs in Britain.
A US representative of the company which has bought the Nottingham hubgear maker was at Sturmeys first creditors meeting, unmissable in his black shirt emblazoned with the companys red logo.
The deal means the Sturmey Archer name will not disappear, a consolation to the 300 Sturmey workers cruelly deprived of their jobs for reasons fully explored elsewhere on this site.
The buyer is a high quality cycle components manufacturer, but does not have hub gears in its current portfolio. Sturmey Archer hub gears will roll off the new high-tech production lines within the next few months and is expected to be distributed into Europe via what used to be Sturmey Europa BV of Holland.
The Sturmey Archer factory auction will still take place on 12-14th December and only just one or two of the sale items listed elsewhere on this website and in the November BicycleBusiness will be unavailable for purchase.
