Berater-News

Carlsquare advised Ardian on its acquisition of YT Industries

YT Industries (“YT”), a global high-performance mountain bike (“MTB”) brand, and Ardian, a world leading private investment house, have signed a partnership agreement to drive YT Industries’ growth. Ardian Expansion will invest in YT together with the company founders Markus Flossmann and Jacob Fatih – alongside the management team. The management team, led by former Amazon manager Sam Nicols who joined the company in 2020, and the founder and CVO Markus Flossmann, supported by Jacob Fatih’s business incubator Crealize, will focus on building out the company’s product portfolio, whilst simultaneously bringing YT’s brand and customer experience to the next level.

YT Industries was founded in 2008 in Essen, Germany, by Markus Flossmann and Jacob Fatih with the vision to provide high-quality and affordable dirt jump bikes for professional cyclists and bike enthusiasts. Since its inception, the company has evolved into an international and highly respected premium brand in the performance MTB segment. The abbreviation YT stands for Young Talent and the motto „Live Uncaged“, featured across innovative marketing campaigns, inspires the loyal community behind the brand.

YT currently offers a diverse range of 40 MTBs, designed for various categories of mountain biking (i.e., downhill, enduro, all-mountain, trail, dirt) as well as complementary apparel and accessories. In addition, YT launched its highly successful e-MTB model “DECOY” in 2019, which now accounts for a significant share of sales. The company plans to enhance customer experience and service, integrate data-driven decision making and expand business across Europe and the US, the largest MTB market in the world. With a pure online direct-to-consumer business model, YT is able to offer highest quality performance MTBs with an excellent value for money proposition. YT bikes have led athletes to major competition titles such as World Championships and World Cup wins. Currently several world-class athletes such as elite downhill professionals Dakotah Norton from America and David Trummer from Austria, are using YT bikes in their training and competitive races.

Jacob Fatih, Co-founder and shareholder of YT Industries, said: “It has nearly been 15 years since my friend and Co-Founder Markus Flossmann and I built our first mountain bike to our own specifications and the rest is history. Our enthusiasm for sport and entrepreneurship are still what drive us every day – and this attitude has made YT one of the top 3 brands in professional mountain biking. We are fully convinced that with our new partner Ardian we will become even stronger, and our brand will continue to inspire both existing and new customers.”

Dirk Wittneben, Head of Ardian Expansion DACH, added: “The combination of one of the most popular performance MTB brands and the underlying structural growth of the international MTB markets provide significant growth potential for YT. The company’s innovative and ambitious founders and management team combine strong passion for the product, a highly successful marketing approach as well as an outstanding online direct-to-consumer distribution model. We are thrilled to be able to support Sam, Markus, and the wider management team to help them achieve their envisaged growth path.”

The transaction remains subject to the authorisation by the competition authorities. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Carlsquare acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Ardian.

Cookie Consent Banner von Real Cookie Banner