Indian Company TVS Motor Acquires Majority Stake in Electric Bike EBCO Brand

Indian company TVS Motor acquires majority stake in electric bike EBCO brand

TVS Motor Company of India, a world-renowned manufacturer of second- and third-wheel products, announced that it has acquired a majority stake in EBCO Ltd., which owns the EBCO brand and distributes the highly regarded premium German brand Corratec (IKO Europe GmbH).

The acquisition of an important stake in EBCO by TVS Motor, a well-known and leading two-wheeled manufacturing company in India, is an important part of their successive investments in two European e-bike companies, and is the latest stage in establishing a solid European e-bike market.

Speaking on the occasion, TVS Motor President and Head of Electric Bikes Business Mr. Sharad Mohan Mishra said: “We are delighted to be able to participate and contribute to the fast-growing UK market through this investment. EBCO and its strategic partner Corratec are well established in the With the support of a well-established supply chain, it brings a strong innovation pipeline to the market. Together with TVS Motor, I believe we have a strong proposition to the market.”

EBCO founders Paul & Rick Stanforth, industry veterans who have been involved in the bicycle market for over 30 years and the e-bike market for over 20 years, will continue to support the EBCO business. Previously, Stanfords founded Saracen Bikes in the early days of the mountain bike boom, and they later sold the brand to UK dealer Madison.

Mr Paul Stanforth said: "We have found a dynamic partner for EBCO to expand our offering in the e-bike market. This will create significant opportunities for us in terms of quality assurance and simplification of the supply chain and will allow us to collaborate with TVS Other e-bike companies in Motor’s portfolio have collaborated. This is the right timing: the UK market is maturing rapidly, growing by around 70% from 2019 to 2020, with sales of £280 million. According to UK-based market research firm Mintel According to the Group, e-bikes have a 12% market share, most of which is used for conventional bikes. We expect electrification to take off substantially over the next few years, just like in other mature markets such as the Netherlands and Germany.”

Corratec will continue to be a partner of EBCO and retain its stake in EBCO and sees the acquisition as a strong positive move that will strengthen EBCO's position in the growing UK e-bike market.

The couple and owners Corratec, Cielo and Konrad Irlbacher said: “We will deepen our cooperation with EBCO, in particular by taking advantage of our newly operated 50,000 sqm Romanian factory with an annual production capacity of 300,000 e-bikes. This will allow EBCO to To be able to distribute our comprehensive line of Corratec e-bikes, with plans to re-launch the EBCO range in the future.”