The Amsterdam e-bike maker VanMoof is taken over by Lavoie, a British manufacturer of electric scooters. The Financieele Dagblad and Nu.nl report this this afternoon. The acquisition would involve an amount of ‘tens of millions of euros’.
VanMoof was declared bankrupt in July after it stopped selling new bicycles in the weeks before. VanMoof turned out to be making a loss for years, and would have accumulated a debt of 144 million euros at the time of the bankruptcy.
The Italian-American Micromobility.com previously appeared willing to take over VanMoof, but that offer was rejected.
‘Fantastic brand’
With Lavoie, another buyer has now been found. Nick Fry, the chairman of the supervisory board of parent company McLaren Applied, names VanMoof The Financial Times ‘a fantastic brand’, which, according to him, has succumbed to quality problems.
The bankruptcy caused a lot of unrest among customers of the company, because the bicycles could only be repaired at VanMoof bicycle repair shops. Ordinary bicycle mechanics do not have the right parts to get the bicycles running.
Customers have also ordered a bicycle from the company, but have not received it. It is unclear whether that will now happen.