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Big news today regarding Pierer Mobility (the parent company to KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas) and MV Agusta, as the Austrian company is set to take a 25.1% ownership stake in the Italian manufacturer.

The news comes just a couple weeks after it was announced that KTM North America would takeover distribution of MV Agusta's motorcycles in the United States, and quells rumors that have been circling about KTM's interest in the Varese brand.







Through a terse press release, the two companies have released few details on their strategic alliance, but it does seem that the ownership stake in MV Agusta comes with a lifeline of capital to keep Italian factory churning out exotic sport bikes.

The press release also explains that Pierer Mobility will takeover the supply chain and purchasing for MV Agusta, and that KTM et al will handle distribution for MV Agusta in certain unnamed markets - like what has already been announced in the USA.

Source: MV Agusta







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Petroleum brand Valvoline struck a deal this week with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, which sees the American company selling its global products business for $2.65 billion.

The deal sees Aramco taking ownership of Valvoline’s products used globally, while Valvoline would retain its global rights to the brand name itself for use in retail services, except in China and certain countries in the Middle East and Africa.

After three years of shopping it around, Investcorp has finally sold the Dainese group of brands, with The Carlyle Group (an American private equity firm) purchasing the Italian apparel manufacturer for a reported €630 million.

That number represents a nearly 5x return from the €130 million that Investcorp spent when it purchased 80% of Dainese SpA from founder Lino Dainese in 2014 – making the venture quite a profitable one for the Bahraini firm.

After spinning out the LiveWire brand from the Harley-Davidson name earlier this year, the MoCo is getting ready to take its electric motorcycle company public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Harley-Davidson is taking LiveWire public (with the help of AEA Investors and Bridges Fund Management) through an interesting method called a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which is a method of creating an IPO without going through all the work that such an endeavor usually entails.

Call it braking news (sorry, sorry) as Italian brake manufacturer Brembo has just acquired the entirety of Spanish brake company J.Juan for a reported €70 million ($85 million) in cash.

The move is said to center around Brembo’s desire to invest more in the motorcycle sector of its business, where J.Juan has made an increasing number of inroads with OEM and aftermarket fitment.

There is something brewing between KTM and Kramer Motorcycles, and the internet seems to be in agreement with that notion.

The smoke to this fire comes from a story first published on German-language Speedweek, where it was reported that KTM was working on a smaller-displacement track bike, after scrapping its RC16 customer program.

The Speedweek story showed an alleged spy photo (shown below) of the bike that KTM was working on for this project, though the site failed to recognize the motorcycle in question as being a Kramer 890 GP2.

Italian brake component manufacturer Brembo is continuing its investment spree.

Loyal A&R readers will remember that Brembo bought a portion of Pirelli back in April of this year, and now the Italians have gobbled up Danish company SBS Friction A/S, which is known best in the marketplace for the SBS line of brake pads.

The deal sees Brembo taking 100% ownership of the Danish company, in an agreement that is worth 224 million Danish kroner ($36 million), with SBS being valued at 300 million Kr.

Italian motorcycle apparel manufacturer Dainese has acquired Italian motorcycle footwear producer TCX.

The move is an interesting one for the Dainese Group though, especially when it will come to merging the TCX lineup into Dainese’s own.

The stated reason behind the acquisition is that Dainese bought TCX in order to bolster its footwear lineup, with the goal of the Dainese Group to offer a truly head-to-toe range of products (for those who don’t know, the Dainese Group includes helmet maker AGV).

The rumors of the Bonnier Motorcycle Group (BMG) being for sale have been ongoing for a while now, but now they have finally come good, as Octane has been named as the buyer of BMG.

For those not familiar with Octane, it is a part of Fintech, and it operates as a portal for financing loans to powersports buyers. Why does a lending house want to buy C​ycle World, Motorcyclist, Dirt Rider, Motorcycle Cruiser, UTV Driver, ATV Rider,​ and ​Cycle Volta?

Octane CEO Jason Guss perhaps says it best in the company’s joint press release with Bonnier Corp.:

“We are acquiring these titles because we want to support brands that get people excited about powersports. Our goal for this acquisition is to ensure that unbiased product reviews, rigorous and objective testing, and informed storytelling​ will continue to be available to powersports enthusiasts.”

“When combined with Octane’s financing platform and dealership partners, consumers will soon be able to go directly from researching their dream vehicle to owning it, in a fast, seamless process.”