Rossignol Group and Benoît Laval have reached an agreement on the acquisition of the Raidlight and Vertical activities, to take effect on August 1st. Rossignol Group will provide accounting, logistics and IT support to Raidlight’s founder to ensure a successful transition. The Group retains the Outdoor Experiences service activities and is refocusing its outdoor activities around its Rossignol brand.

Rossignol Group has accepted Benoît Laval’s takeover offer for the Raidlight and Vertical activities. The agreement guarantees the transfer of the entirety of two brands’ activities to Raidlight’s founder, with the exception of the Outdoor Experiences activities which remain the property of the Group. The acquisition takes effect on the 1st of August. All employment contracts for Raidlight and Vertical employees will be transferred to Benoît Laval. Rossignol Group also commits to providing accounting, logistics and IT support to Raidlight’s founder as he launches the business.

Rossignol Group acquired the Raidlight-Vertical activities in August 2016. Raidlight, founded by Benoît Laval in 1999, is known for its positioning of very high quality and technical excellence in the trail market, while French brand Vertical has been designing equipment for ski mountaineering, trekking and hiking for more than 36 years.

In retaining the Outdoor Experiences activities, Rossignol Group is demonstrating its determination to develop a services offer for the regions in order to support them as they diversify, develop, and promote their tourist destination around outdoor sports (via the four networks: Stations de Trail trail-running resorts, Stations Nordic Walk nordic-walking resorts, R-Bikes for mountain bikes/electric-assist mountain bikes, and Espaces Ski de Rando for ski touring, with their marked routes, mobile apps, etc.). Rossignol is also refocusing its outdoor activities on the Rossignol brand, and will accelerate the development of its summer collections with its Rossignol Active collections. It intends to capitalise on the strong growth potential of the outdoor and summer mountain market, which is gaining in popularity every year.

« Rossignol has significantly expanded its offer in markets which were still little known 20 years ago, and which are now proving to be unfailingly successful. The acquisition of Raidlight-Vertical in 2016 was part of this process and reflected the shift from our winter-season model to a four-season strategy that covered mountain activities all year round. With the Rossignol brand, we now provide mountain enthusiasts with the shoes, clothes and technical accessories they need for their sport or activity. We also believe very strongly in our Outdoor Experiences services offer, which represents a huge asset for our Group. It enables us to enrich the customer relationship by offering, in addition to equipment, certified activity resorts for a complete experience,” explains Bruno Cercley, Rossignol Group President & CEO.