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Shimano Closes Pearl Izumi Purchase

Published April 23, 2008

IRVINE, CA (BRAIN)—Shimano American Corp. has completed its acquisition of Pearl Izumi from Nautilus.

The $70 million sale closed on Monday.

Cache Mundy, vice president of marketing for Pearl Izumi, said it’s business as usual at the Broomfield, Colorado-based company except for a plan to move headquarters four miles northwest to the town of Louisville.

Pearl Izumi will set up its offices in a 91,570-square-foot building in the Colorado Tech Center that already serves as the company’s warehouse.

Nautilus used to own the building, but sold it several months ago to a third-party real estate company. Pearl Izumi worked out a deal to lease the building from the new owners to avoid having to find a new home for its warehouse, Mundy said.

The move, which Pearl Izumi hopes to complete in the next two months, was already in the works before Shimano bought Pearl Izumi, Mundy said. The new building is more efficient and newer than the old digs.

“It’s a major upgrade,” Mundy said.

Otherwise, the sale hasn’t affected any business operations in the U.S. or at the European headquarters in Kirchzarten, Germany, Mundy said.

Pearl Izumi will continue to function as a stand-alone company with its existing executive management team, sales force and strategies in place, said Devin Walton, public relations manager for Shimano American.

“That’s one of the things that made this an attractive purchase. The company is doing well and it’s been successful. We actually made a specific decision not to come in and try to change things.”

Mundy said the health of Pearl Izumi is strong and he hasn’t seen an impact on the bottle line from the nation’s economic woes.

Shimano American announced the purchase of Dash America—Pearl Izumi’s parent company in the U.S.—from Nautilus on February 19. Shimano paid $65.3 million in cash for the company and assumed $4.1 million in debt. Its purchase does not include the rights to sell and distribute Pearl Izumi in Japan and Asia as those continue to be held by Pearl Izumi Japan.

— Nicole Formosa

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