Retail members of Biretco and Bike Totaal have approved the merger of the two chains. The new powerhouse in two-wheeler retailing, which has been named Dynamo Retail Group, will operate a combined 750 bike stores in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. It will be the second biggest bike dealer cooperative operating in Europe, after ZEG. In the Netherlands, its combined stores will represent 33 percent of the country's total market turnover.
The Dynamo Retail Group will continue all the existing store formats which include Bike Totaal, Profile ‘de Fietsspecialist' (bike specialist) and Fietswereld (Bikeworld), as well as the Biretco Buying Group (BBG).
The current managers of Bike Totaal and Biretco, Maarten de Vos and Erik de Geus, have been appointed general manager and chief financial officer, respectively, of the new company. The newly-established supervisory board includes Paul Burger, former managing director of Halfords Holland. The new entity will operate from Bike Totaal's former head office in Amersfoort, in the Netherlands.
Bike Totaal was founded in 1995 and is owned by its affiliated retailers. Biretco emerged in 2004 as a management buyout from Euretco, a retail service organization. It consists of some 600 stores and its major shareholder is Navitas Capital, the investment fund of textile entrepreneur Jan Zeeman. Navitas will take a majority stake in Dynamo Retail Group. The remaining shares are owned by the dealers of Bike Totaal and Profile.
