ECI Partners purchases Evans Cycles for £100m

CYCLE retailer Evans has been sold to private equity firm ECI Partners in a deal understood to be worth around £100 million.

Sir Chris Hoy designed a range of bikes for Evans Cycles. Picture: Contributed

The chain – the UK’s largest specialist cycling retailer – was owned by Active Private Equity and following the sale London-based ECI will hold a significant majority stake with the remainder held by management.

Active acquired Evans Cycles, which stocks a range of bikes designed by Olympic medallist Sir Chris Hoy, in 2008 as a family-owned chain of bicycle shops based in the south east of England with annual revenues of about £44m.

The business has since been transformed into the UK’s leading multi-channel cycle retail brand which serves customers nationally through 56 shops and an e-commerce platform. Over the course of Active’s ownership, sales have grown more than 300 per cent.

The Evans management team, headed by Nick Wilkinson, will continue to lead the business in partnership with ECI.