VANCOUVER, Canada (BRAIN)—With coffee mugs sitting where they left them, 12 former Race Face employees are back at their old jobs under the company’s new majority owner, Chris Tutton, who purchased Race Face from its receiver, Grant Thornton, last week.
“I, and a small private equity group, along with Derek Wills, who was Race Face’s operating officer, purchased the company,” said Tutton, currently director of OE sales at Easton-Bell Sports. Tutton was formerly vice president of sales at Race Face.
“We purchased everything, the trademarks, intellectual property, buildings, machines, raw material and inventory. We expect to ship Race Face product on Friday,” he added.
The deal does not include Race Face Taiwan, which
is currently in receivership in Taiwan. However, the new company called Race Face Performance Products, will still use Race Face Taiwan as a vendor.
Tutton will carry on in his OE sales position at Easton-Bell Sports, and will take over as managing director at Race Face. He plans to rehire more former Race Face employees over the next month, and expects to have 35
people back at their jobs in three-month’s time. Warranties will be honored on all Race Face products.
“Turbine 9- and 10-speed rings will ship almost immediately, as will Race Face carbon SIXC and NEXT cranks and bars. The company will continue to develop and refine their proprietary Optimized Carbon Technology in-house,” Tutton said.
—Matt Wiebe
mwiebe@bicycleretailer.com
