Mel Sutcliffe with Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland race director, Alice Sherratt, at the 2026 edition of the race in Co Clare last month (Photo: Sean Rowe)
Mel Sutcliffe, the former Irish international rider whose Quanta Capital group sponsors the Junior Tour of Ireland, has confirmed his interest in buying the Dutch headquartered Accell Group.
Its interest in the group involves other investors and an, as yet, unidentified global financial institution.
Accell is the parent company of a host of well known cycling brands, including the iconic Raleigh bikes. Sutcliffe 10 years ago sold his Eurotrek Raleigh Ireland company to Accell.
Other brands in the Accell group include Haibike, Ghost, Lapierre, Winora, Batavus, Koga, Sparta, Babboe, Carqon, Van Nicholas, Loekie, Tunturi, Nishiki, and components brand XLC.
In a statement to stickybottle, Sutcliffe’s Quanta Capital – a Dublin-based investment and asset management platform – has confirmed its interest.
“Accell’s portfolio represents a spectacular collection of well-known cycle brands, both globally and in Europe,” said Sutcliffe, Quanta’s chief executive.
“Our main objective will be to put the group onto a more stable footing as it has endured quite a tumultuous period of trading.
“We have made contact with Accell and its administrators to formalise our interest in purchasing the group.”
Quanta added its bid “will be made up of a number of investors and a global financial institution”, with details of those other parties not being disclosed at present.
Just four yeast ago, Accell was acquired by private equity firm KKR, which reportedly spent €1.56 billion.
However, it was badly hit by the post-pandemic cycling industry slump and, after a failed recent sale process, it has just declared itself insolvent in the Netherlands.
Sutcliffe made his international debut as a junior in 1990, riding the road race at the Worlds in Britain that year, on an Irish team that included Paul Giles, Andrew Duncan and Peter Daly.
He made his last international appearance at the Le Tour de Langkawi in 1996, riding on a national team alongside Rás Tailteann winner Tommy Evans, Olympian Declan Lonergan, Richie McCauley, Barry Monaghan and David Peelo.
While he was a student, he founded Eurocycles, which he expanded into a chain of stores in Ireland. He later bought Raleigh Ireland and founded Eurotrek Raleigh Ireland
That latter company, Quanta says, became “Ireland’s largest bicycle distributor and one of the top ten in Europe” before he sold the business to Raleigh and Accell Group a decade ago.