Respected German retailer and mail order parts, accessory and apparel specialist Detlev Louis Motorradvertriebs GmbH has been sold to a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the Omaha, Nebraska based conglomerate built and still largely owned by 84 year-old investor Warren Buffett.
Known as the "Sage of Omaha" and currently thought to be the world's fourth richest man, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is said to hold some $500bn in assets and has known to be on the look-out for acquisitions in Europe for some time.
Based in Hamburg, the sale was undertaken by Ute Louis, widow of founder Detlev Louis, who died in 2012. The deal is said to have been worth some €400m; the company presently operates some 70 retail stores, a mail order business that started with its first catalog in 1967, and an online operation that is estimated to account for some 20 percent of its total of around €240 in sales.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Detlev Louis originally started as a motorcycle dealership and workshop in 1938; Detlev Louis got involved in 1946 and by 1968 the company was selling Honda, BSA, BMW and Matchless motorcycles as well seeing its parts, accessory and apparel business grow.
In 1969 the company became the general importer for Germany for Kawasaki motorcycles, but has withdrawn from motorcycle sales altogether by the early 1990s. The company presently employs around 1,600 people and sells some 32,000 product lines.
This is Berkshire Hathaway's first medium sized acquisition in Europe, and the first time it is believed to have taken outright ownership of a 100 percent motorcycle business.
However it is not its first motorcycle industry investment. Its GEICO Insurance is heavily involved in motorcycle insurance in the United States, and it took a $300m position in Harley-Davidson debt in 2009 when the Milwaukee, Wisconsin based manufacturer was "short of friends".
www.louis.de
