American motorcycle manufacturer Erik Buell Racing (EBR) has a new owner, albeit a temporary one. In a recent press release, Michigan-based Liquid Asset Partners (LAP) announced its acquisition of the Wisconsin company, which ceased operations in April 2015. LAP spent nine months acquiring the assets. The company has worked with motorcycle manufacturers and distributors in the past to assist in the sales of assets and intellectual properties.
LAP will implement a two-part plan to sell the EBR property. First, it will locate a new buyer that is qualified to carry on EBR’s manufacturing process. Following this, “excess assets” will be sold off to help trim costs and increase efficiency.
“I believe Erik Buell Racing (EBR) has established themselves as one of the premier motorcycle manufacturers in the world and has strong potential as a viable business,” said Bill Melvin, CEO of Liquid Asset Partners. “Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on research and design to arrive at the EBR RS, RX, and SX platforms, which have proven themselves on the racing circuit to be state of the art and in dealer sales to be in high demand.”
Before founding EBR, Erik Buell was running Buell Motorcycle Company. In 2003, Harley-Davidson acquired nearly half of BMC, and a decade later became the majority owner. H-D dropped the line in 2009. A month later, Buell founded Eric Buell Racing, an independent company focusing on high-performance machines such as the 1190RS, 1190RX and the latest model: the streetfighting 1190SX (pictured).
In 2013, Hero MotoCorp, a multi-billion dollar corporation and the largest motorcycle manufacturer in India, purchased a 49 percent stake in EBR. Last year, the Journal Sentinel reported that EBR filed for receivership, which is similar to bankruptcy under Wisconsin law. In this situation, a court-appointed receiver has the power to approve the best bids.
LAP previously worked with Cannondale Motorcycle Factory in 2002, Indian Motorcycle company in 2004, and American Ironhorse in 2009. They also worked with Buell in 2010, assisting with sales. For its latest project, LAP will be collaborating with remaining employees of EBR to ready the company for the next owner.
“Tell everyone!” continued Melvin in the statement. “Maybe it will be crowdsourced, maybe a private investor will step in, maybe we will provide financing for the right team to move forward, or maybe a large manufacturer will acquire the brand with additional due diligence. Our hope is that someone will continue to manufacture these amazing motorcycles, and with our acquisition, we are adding more pavement to the road so that can happen.”
