Accell in talks to buy Raleigh Cycle Europe's biggest bicycle maker by market share is looking to take over 125-year-old Raleigh Cycle, a little more than a decade after its managers bought the Nottingham-based brand out of bankruptcy. Accell Group of the Netherlands said on Tuesday that it was in exclusive talks to acquire Raleigh, which designs but no longer manufactures bicycles, as a route into Anglo-Saxon markets. Raleigh is a very significant brand, known almost everywhere in the world. For us, it would mean new, larger markets in America, Canada and England," said René Takens, Accell chief executive. Favourite Raleigh models include the Diamondback Racer and the Chopper. It sold about 850,000 bikes last year, producing sales of $260m, said Accell. Raleigh was the subject of a management buyout in 2001, led by its former chief executive, Alan Finden-Crofts, after the parent company, Derby Cycle, went bankrupt as a craze for mountain bikes slowed. Mr Finden-Crofts, now the company chairman, still holds a share in Raleigh, alongside the US private equity group Perseus Capital. In the past 10 years the company has outsourced manufacturing and attempted to drive top-line growth through its own retail chain. Accell, meanwhile, commands about 40 per cent of its domestic market. However, the Dutch non-electric bicycle market is largely saturated, with ownership rates of more than one bicycle per person, and growth opportunities elsewhere in Europe. Seventy per cent of revenues come from outside the Netherlands, with the fastest pace in Germany, where its brands include Hercules, Ghost and Staiger. In 2011 sales in the Netherlands fell 4 per cent, while those in Germany rose 26 per cent. Accell had net profits of €40.5m last year, as group sales rose 9 per cent to €628.5m. Gert Steens, an analyst with SNS Securities, estimated the acquisition would make the US Accell's third-biggest market, after the Netherlands and Germany. He added that a takeover would be fairly easy to integrate, "because Raleigh outsources all of its production, Accell would just be adding brands to its roster. They wouldn't have to manage a factory. In Europe, sales of the new generation of sleek electric bicycles are rising fast, with Accell increasing revenues from electric bikes by 21 per cent last year. Mr Takens said Raleigh had not been strong in the electric bicycle market to date, and that Accell would look to strengthen the British company's electric models if the acquisition goes through. Last autumn the Dutch industrial group Pon Holdings took control of Derby Cycle, putting pressure on Accell, which held a 22 per cent stake, and underscoring the race to win electric bike customers.