Warren Buffett buys a motorcycle goods retailer

[K250]

One of the other threads referenced an Economist magazine article, read it, and saw another article saying that Warren Buffet bought a  motorcycle goods retailer for $454,000,000! That is pretty solid money for anyone. 

A quick Google shows the company has 74 stores plus the online business at:

https://www.louis.eu/


That is pretty amazing on many levels.   If  I'm doing the currency conversion correct, the company sells appx. $250,000,000 a year in motorcycle gear!

Could all this even be right?  The numbers are mind boggling to this Kansas flatlander..

[Lannis]

Buffet doesn't make many mistakes .

  Dusty

You don't know why he's buying it though.   Maybe it's failing and he recognizes that the assets are worth more broken up and sold than they are as a company?

I've no idea.   Might be the greatest M/C parts company ever.   Never have heard of them, however, so I'm sure they haven't put up any signs in any of the places I go ....

Lannis

[ITSec]

Looks like it's a move by the founder's family to shift out of the company without having to go public. They've apparently been around for 75 years, and the founder died a while back. His widow reportedly started shopping the company and approached Berkshire Hathaway. More info at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/buffett-agrees-to-buy-german-motorcycle-retailer-in-europe-push

[segesta]

Buffett has actually made some mistakes... in European retail, no less. His investment in UK's Tesco supermarket chain lost something like $600 million.

Louis seems like the European version of Revzilla. But with Europeans aging and replacing themselves not with more Europeans, but with impoverished Libyans and Syrians, I wonder if he really wants their motorcycle accessories business, or their mailing list of (the remaining) affluent baby boomers.

[GearheadGrrrl]

I suspect the plan is to take Louis into the US and other markets... The formula they use in Europe will work here and elsewhere too.

[fossil]

For a lot of us here in Northern Germany (Detlev Louis originated in Hamburg) meeting at a Louis shop (especially Hamburg) is a fixed date on a niche saturday. You see rows of extremely interesting bikes. They sell their goods accordingly.

Louis is by far the biggest brand of this sort in Europe. And they are good.

[Lannis]

For a lot of us here in Northern Germany (Detlev Louis originated in Hamburg) meeting at a Louis shop (especially Hamburg) is a fixed date on a niche saturday. You see rows of extremely interesting bikes. They sell their goods accordingly.

Louis is by far the biggest brand of this sort in Europe. And they are good.

I'm in a pretty much "motorcycle-sparse" part of the country, and there's no retail shop like that within 100 miles of me.   

Nearest thing I've got is a "Cycle Gear" store down in Greensboro, NC.    They are definitely a "weekend meet" place for about every style of bike there is ....

Lannis

[kidsmoke]

their site etc is such a contrast to anything American, which indicates we're all wearing leather and chrome laden boots and riding blacked out cruisers, an a "Full line" means they stock air cleaner covers that will go with your Evo, OR your shovel or pan....

Look at the bright colors, helmets on everyone and upright seating position! Who ARE these people!

With two wheelers so prevalent over the globe, could be a shrewd move.

[pauldaytona]

Germany had Polo, Hein Gericke and Louis.

Polo, 90 shops, 900 emplyees, 114,0 Million Euro
Louis,74 shops, 1600 employees, 240 Million euro 
Hein Gericke , 53 shops

[Lannis]

Germany had Polo, Hein Gericke and Louis.

Polo, 90 shops, 900 emplyees, 114,0 Million Euro
Louis,74 shops, 1600 employees, 240 Million euro 
Hein Gericke , 53 shops

Isn't Hein Gericke currently in "bankruptcy receiver" mode?    I'd heard that they'd closed most of their shops except some in Germany .... ?

I used to see Hein Gericke gear all the time, not so much anymore though.   It was always good stuff from what I could tel ...

Lannis