The Colruyt family, owner of Belgium’s biggest supermarket chain, will take a stake in Dutch bike builder Santos Bikes through its investment vehicle Korys.
Custom-made
Santos, founded in 1997 by Robbert Rutgrink, focuses on custom-made bikes rather than mass production: the brand is primarily known for its solid touring and trekking bikes. The bicycles are also very popular with the police forces, Belgian newspaper De Tijd writes: in several European cities, including Antwerp and Ghent, police officers use Santos bikes.
Korys is taking over as shareholder from Think2Act Capital, which is another Belgian investment fund. The amount of the investment is unknown.
According to Rutgrink, Santos’ founder, the demand for his bicycles is increasing sharply, especially from the international market. “Geographical expansion and the further expansion of our range will therefore receive our full attention with the arrival of Korys”, he says.
