The move follows an equity raising process that started in June 2010, led by the management with the support of its major shareholder, AtriA Capital Partenaires.
“We are delighted to have strengthened the company’s equity base and provided the resources it needs to step up its expansion plans,” Xavier Lepine, Partner with Perceva Capital, said in a release. “SHARK is exactly the kind of company we like to invest in: it is a leading French SME with a robust presence in France and internationally, unrivaled technical expertise and high innovation capacity, backed by its own production and marketing facilities.”
“This recapitalization will enable us to step up our investments in our product range and distribution networks. This will increase our market share in France, where we are the industry leader, and internationally, particularly in neighboring European countries, as well as North America, Latin America and Asia,” added Patrick Francois, Chairman of SHARK.
Based in Marseilles, SHARK has its own integrated production facilities, with two factories producing more than 300,000 helmets each year. The French company employs 670 people and generated sales of EUR30 million in 2010.
In late 2010, SHARK unveiled its new helmet line, which included the Race-R Pro and Race-R coming to replace the popular RSR2 helmets at the top of the range. Also new to the range is the Vision-R, which has been developed to offer the greatest panoramic visor aperture available on the market, and that brings a patented 'Rapid Anti Fog system'.
Meanwhile, Shark has also unveiled a new logo that you can see in the adjacent image.
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