The Chinese company Johnson Electric has acquired a majority stake in the drive manufacturer Pendix. This was announced by both Johnson Electric and Pendix in respective press releases over the past few weeks. However, not only the ownership structure is changing. Pendix will also start developing a new drive.
According to its own statement, Johnson Electric has secured 80 percent of Pendix GmbH. Until now, a total of four different financial investors held these shares. They had supported Pendix with capital in 2013 shortly after the company was founded. The five company founders Andreas Grebner, Andre Lehmann, Sebastian Fethke, Christian Hennig and Thomas Herzog will remain shareholders. In addition, the new principal owner intends to let them continue to manage the day-to-day business and lead the further development of Pendix in the future.
Ambitious plans
In the course of its involvement with the Zwickau-based manufacturer of the Pendix eDrive, Johnson Electric wants to enter the ebike market without having to start completely from scratch. At the side of a renowned partner, they intend to continue offering sustainable drive solutions for bicycle manufacturers.
The focus will no longer be solely on the existing retrofit kits. The presentation of a new, integrated mid-mounted motor is already planned for 2025. This would allow Pendix to tap into completely new target groups and compete for the favour of bicycle manufacturers alongside established competitors such as Shimano, Brose, Fazua, Bosch, Yamaha, TQ and Co. Which type of motor is targeted for which segment of ebikes was not clear from any of the news. However, the news from Pendix said that they also wanted to expand the cargo bike segment under the VSC.BIKE brand. This sounds more like the upcoming unit will not be exclusively focused on e-cargo bikes. Well, let’s see.
Until now, Pendix has been known exclusively for its eDrive. In the future, the company would also like to produce a classic mid-motor.
Classic win-win situation
With the entry of Johnson Electric, Pendix wants to put the company on a reliable foundation for the coming years. “The previous investors have relied on the support of start-ups, have supported us and financed the growth. With Johnson Electric, we are now securing the long-term future of the company by expanding the product range,” says Thomas Herzog, CEO of Pendix GmbH. At the same time, the step increases the company’s own competitiveness. This should relate both to the pricing of the company’s own products and their technological level. After all, Pendix can now access the resources of a globally active group of companies that manufactures motors, actuators, motion subsystems and related electro-mechanical components for sectors such as the automotive industry and medical technology.
Thomas Herzog, Managing Director of Pendix GmbH
This seems to have been one of the arguments that persuaded Johnson Electric to join Pendix. “Our engineering center in Dresden, Germany, is in close proximity to Zwickau. This will enable close collaboration with the highly skilled Pendix team,” says Austin Wang, Senior Vice President of Johnson Electric. From the perspective of Patrick Wang, Chairman and CEO of Johnson Electric, two companies come together that complement each other perfectly: “With Johnson Electric’s industrial scale and global reach together with Pendix’s expertise in the ebike sector, we are positioning ourselves into a fast-growing and innovative industry.”
Patrick Wang, CEO of Johnson Electric
Earlier this year, Pendix had already pushed ahead with its commercial development and acquired VSC Bike GmbH into its own group of companies.
Pictures: Pendix GmbH; Johnson Electric Holdings Limited
