Chris Davenport, a two-time free ski world champion, has become a shareholder of Kästle, the Austrian ski manufacturer. At the same time, the American athlete has joined the company's board of directors. Davenport has been with the brand since 2007, when Kästle set up its “Pro Team'' of top athletes. Since then Davenport has been involved in Kästle's product development in the free-skiing category for which the company launched a completely new range in 2010.
Davenport has acquired a 5 percent stake in the company, joining the three other shareholders: Knünz GmbH, which holds 72 percent of the shares, BLR GmbH, which owns 18 percent, and Wolfgang Kappel, a consultant to Knünz. The latter is the holding company of Rudolf Knünz, who began to invest in Kästle in 2007. He is also the strong man behind KTM, an Austrian motorcycle company. BLR is jointly owned by Kästle's operational managers: Oliver Binder, in charge of research & product development, Alexander Lotschak, managing director, and Siegfried Rumpfhuber, head of sales and marketing.
Davenport will intensify his involvement in Kästle's North American operations. A Kästle executive said that Davenport will continue to steer the product development process and take care of sponsored athletes in North America, but will also be involved in sales.
Reportedly, Kästle had sales of some €6 million last year and sold some 16,000 pairs of skis, up by 15 percent compared with the previous year. Around one quarter of the turnover was generated in the U.S. and the same in Austria, followed by Switzerland with 14 percent and France with 13 percent. The company expects to be profitable after the 2013-14 winter season.
