According to a report on bikebiz.com, online bike retailer Wiggle are set to take over Chain Reaction Cycles with the sale possibly going through next week.
Wiggle Ltd is an online retailer of cycle, run, swim and triathlon products, based in Portsmouth, Great Britain which started in 1999 as a small independent bike shop called Butler Cycles, located in Portsmouth.
By 2011, annual revenue was £86 million with the company’s overall value estimated at £200m. That year, a new London office for I.T. and Wiggle’s own brands was set up in the Borough Market area of London in early 2011 and two new warehouses were acquired.
In December 2011, the company was sold to Bridgepoint Capital for £180m. Bridgepoint specialises in investing in middle market businesses, and Wiggle were able to launch 11 new websites for overseas consumers in 2012.
Their rival Chain Reaction Cycles started out as a small bike shop named Ballynure Cycles which was opened in 1985 by George and Janice Watson using a £1500 bank loan in the small village of Ballynure in Northern Ireland.
In late 1999 the company registered domain name www.ChainReactionCycles.com and launched the Chain Reaction Cycles website. The first sale was a chain link sold for 11p chain. The sales grew each year, and eventually Chain Reaction Cycles became the world’s largest online bike store. In 2011 revenues were £136.4 million (€170 million).
In 2013, Wiggle moved ahead of Chain Reaction when sales at the family-owned firm dropped six percent to £145m. The Watson family is said to have a personal fortune of £200m.
seriously big news