Fahrrad.de’s Bankruptcy Announcement Sends Shockwaves Through the Bicycle Industry

The news that Fahrrad.de is planning to file for bankruptcy is making big waves in the bicycle industry. Behind this is the decision of investor René Benko to close the money supply to the part of his company that is behind 80 online retailers. Signa Sports United (SSU) will not be granted a promised, unconditional financing of 150 million euros.

Manager Magazin reported on October 17th that Austrian investor René Benko’s Signa Group has dropped its sports retailers under the umbrella of Signa Sports United (SSU): Benko is said to have sold the Sport Scheck brand to British sports giant Mike Ashley (Sports Direct). sold – and also withdrew the firm commitment for a 150 million euro loan to the subsidiary Signa Sports United. This also includes numerous online shops, such as Fahrrad.de, Chainreactioncycles.com (with the brands Vitus and Nukeproof), Probikeshop.com, Redcycling.de or Wiggle.com, but also the brand shops from Votec and Ortler Bikes. Other portals such as Def-Shop.net or Outfitter.de are also among those affected.

Returns processing is currently not possible on these portals – this is shown by a banner placed at the top of the website (see cover image of this article). There seem to be serious reasons for what is announced here in such a short and uninformative way.

If the insolvency proceedings in self-administration are approved, business operations can be continued again, according to the company. That should happen next week.

Self-administration insolvency enables the affected company to continue or resume operations under its own administration and under the supervision of a administrator and to carry out restructuring or reorganization.

Benko and his Signa Holding became known primarily for the “rescue” of the capsized Galeria department store group, which was only partially successful – most of the branches are now closed. The current series of bankruptcy reports also includes the fact that the Sportscheck chain, which was then bought by Signa from the bankrupt Otto Group, is now being sold off by Signa and is being taken over by another investor. Exit? Let’s take a look, then we’ll see, that’s what they say in Bavaria.