Christophe Piron leaves Bihr - replaced by Peter Hakanson
Bill Canady, the recently appointed CEO of Bihr distribution parent company Arrowhead Engineered Products (AEP - Blaine, Minnesota) has announced the appointment of Peter Hakanson to the position of Managing Director for Power Sports EU - a newly created role that appears to have been engineered to distance management of Arrowhead's European powersports industry subsidiaries from its other acquisitions in Europe, including its "Farm and Garden" businesses.
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| Christophe Piron is leaving Arrowhead subsidiary Bihr. His is being replaced as the head of the Bihr distribution operation by Peter Hakanson as Managing Director of new management entity Power Sports EU. |
Hakanson has effectively replaced former Bihr CEO Christophe Piron. Canady is quoted as stating that "Peter will provide leadership and strategic direction for Bihr distribution. This new group includes the Bihr business that was founded in 1975 at Bartenheim, France, by Cyrille Bihr; leading off-road performance specialist Vertex Pistons (VP Italia) in Italy and Hi-Level distribution in the UK.
Canady, an insider at AEP's private equity owner Genstar Capital himself, only recently replaced the former AEP CEO John Mosunic, who oversaw the acquisition of Bihr here in Europe for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the region of € 500m, and major seven-warehouse national PG&A distributor Western Power Sports (WPS) of Boise, Idaho - for a reputed $1.5bn - in the space of around eight months in 2022.
WPS was started in the early 1960s and is the owner of the FLY Racing MX apparel and accessory brand, among others. WPS had sales estimated in the region of $650m annually at the time of its sale to AEP. It is currently ranked the second largest powersports product distributor in the USA - after Janesville, Wisconsin based Parts Europe owner LeMans Corporation.
With warehouses in France and Spain, and corporate offices at Kontich near Antwerp, Bihr itself had been an active buyer of other powersports businesses here in Europe in the two years before being sold to AEP by Kontich based prior owner Alcopa.
Those acquisitions had included Moto Direct/RST apparel and RaceFX in the UK, iPstore.be, and Paaschburg & Wunderlich/LSL in Hamburg.
Canady stated: "Christophe Piron will work closely with Peter to ensure a seamless transition. We are thankful for Christophe’s leadership and contributions to the organisation. He has set up Bihr for a bright future. We wish him all the best in his new opportunity outside Arrowhead."
In the United States, AEP also owns other powersports industry brands such as All Balls Racing, Hot Cams, Pivot Works and Cylinder Works.
The process of ownership consolidation that has characterised the parts, accessory and apparel industry in Europe in the past three years has shaken up the existing overcrowded distribution channels here. An already hugely competitive sector has become ever more so as market uncertainty during Covid, logistics issues, inflationary and recessionary pressures (to say nothing of the war in Ukraine) have made it very difficult for highly leveraged investments to show the required return. Highly paid but under pressure CEOs of private equity investment holding companies and their subsidiaries are generally the first casualties under such circumstances.
