Van Megen Sports Group, a Dutch distribution company that once dealt with a flurry of tennis and action sports brands in the Benelux and German-speaking countries, will cease to exist at the end of this year when the distribution rights for Prince and Tretorn in the Benelux countries will be attributed to Prince Benelux, a new subsidiary of Prince Europe.
The deal fits with the strategy of AGU Holding, the owner of Van Megen Sports, to focus on its bicycle business – and with Prince's strategy to take more direct control of its distribution in Europe.
In the face of tightening margins, Prince Europe has started directly covering more and more European countries in the last years, from Spain and Portugal to France, Germany and now the Benelux region. The next move will occur in Italy, which Prince will handle on an agency basis from the start of next year.
Van Megen Sports, which still employed 34 people at the start of 2010, has been gradually dismantled. In February last year it handed over the distribution rights for Nordica and Rollerblade in the Benelux countries to a local competitor, X-Function. At the end of the year, Van Megen Sports entirely pulled out of the German market, where it had distribution deals for K-Swiss as well as Prince and Tretorn: K-Swiss took back the rights to sell its performance products in Germany and Austria, while Prince set up its own business in Germany, to cover that country and Austria, and Tretorn went to another German distributor.
Formally a subsidiary of Prince Europe in the U.K., Prince Benelux will be established in the Netherlands and headed by Rob Visser, director at Van Megen Sports. It will sell Prince as well as Tretorn, in a strategic tie-up between the two brands.
Prince Benelux will operate with just five people, all transferring from Van Megen and including one salesperson in Belgium, while back office functions will be covered by Prince Europe.
Van Megen Sports previously had a showroom in the Brussels Trademart, which was given up last May. Prince Benelux will keep a showroom for the Dutch market in Leusden.
