Dutch trading and service company Pon Holdings BV has, according to a short announcement on the Cervélo website, agreed to a financing arrangement with the frame manufacturer.
The news was issued by the Canadian company yesterday and also stated that both parties had signed a Letter of Intent which would enable both parties to ‘agree on a sale of Cervélo in exclusivity.’
The announcement comes over a year after the company wound up the Cervélo Test Team due to what it said were the ‘financial pressures on professional cycling,’ and agreed to join forces with Garmin instead.
The Cervélo company was founded in 1995 by Phil White and Gerard Vroomen. It has supplied bikes to CSC, the Cervélo Test Team and Garmin-Cervélo, as well as having a large and successful triathlon presence. Its bikes were ridden by over forty Olympic athletes at the Beijing Olympics.
Pon Holdings was registered in 1895 and has a long history in the cycle industry, starting to import Opel bicycles in 1900. Its links to the business side of the sport have grown in the years since.
It is the majority shareholder in Derby Cycle Werke, the German company that owns several brands including Raleigh, Univega and Kalkhoff, and earlier this year bought the Dutch frame manufacturer Gazelle.
Cervélo’s representatives are yet to comment on the agreement, but it is hoped that this move will lead to a more secure future for the company.