The Italian-based giant which owns Leitner, Poma, Skytrac, Sigma, Prinoth and Demaclenko has added yet another ropeway brand to its stable. High Technology Industries (HTI) announced it acquired a majority stake in Bartholet Maschinenbau AG, a Swiss manufacturer of fixed grip and detachable ropeways. The controlling share was previously held by Chinese private equity firm Cedarlake Capital. The agreement once again shifts the global ropeway landscape, which has seen relentless consolidation in recent decades. Chairman and CEO Roland Bartholet and the Bartholet management team will remain in place and the brand will continue to be based in Flums, Switzerland. The company’s founding family will retain a minority stake.
It was just two years ago Bartholet partnered with a different European conglomerate, Mountain and Snow Development Group (MND) of France. MND began to develop its own detachable technology in the mid 2010s and debuted a prototype lift in 2017. That project experienced challenges and MND pivoted to utilizing Bartholet detachable designs from 2020.
MND’s ropeway division and Bartholet are set to debut their first North American detachable lift at Waterville Valley later this year. Much of that six place bubble chair has already been delivered stateside and some foundations are already complete. The Bartholet-HTI press release did not address the future of the MND partnership, though history suggests it will likely wind down. MND did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The now larger HTI Group remains privately held while MND trades publicly on the Euronext Growth exchange under the symbol ALMND.
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So i guess the new MND lifts that Waterville will buy will be similar to lpa?
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No. The Waterville lift is already in production and being built by Bartholet/MND. My guess is at some point in the future the current agreement between MND and Bartholet will expire and we won’t see any more USA Bartholet lifts after that. It won’t make sense to import them when LPOA builds a comparable product in Colorado. We’ll see though.
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yeah. It will kind of be like when Leitner had like 3 detachables before they merged with poma. shame this happened, but these new lifts will certainly be unique.
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So that basically means there won’t be a third player for detach lifts in a short amount of time. America could really use a third player with the shortages for new detach lifts in the USA. Or at least a production capacity increase should be pursued.
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Oh I don’t know.. I think Doppie and Poma can handle it just fine. What’s the rush? Slow and steady wins the race every time. OH wait.. we are talking high speed lifts.. aren’t we.. Just kidding.
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With Leitner-Poma building a new facility in Utah, I would say that’s additional manufacturing capacity right there. HTI allows Poma and Leitner to operate independently in Europe, I don’t see why they can’t do the same in the US.
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*Doppelmayr
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I wonder if they are buying capacity and existing experienced staff versus another product??
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What does this mean for Bartholet? Will their lifts significantly change at all?
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No, it probably just means that there will be no more Bartholet lifts built in America after this years detach at Waterville.
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With both Doppelmayr and LP being on backorder for 2022 and possibly 2023, I wouldn’t be so sure to say that the acquisition of Bartholet was for Europe only. To my belief, Poma and Leitner operate independently in Europe and we could easily see something similar happening in the US with Bartholet.
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I disagree. Leitner and Poma operate separately in Europe as they were established brands with their own production facilities.The purchase of Poma gave Leitner and established production facility in the U.S., which they didn’t have.
What I can see is the possibility of Bartholet becoming the detachable partner with Skytrac to give them a detachable technology option…
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Perhaps less aggressive in selling to North America, but too early to say. They sell some premium lifts that may be desirable at some places, especially in urban/tourist settings where there may not be a prior relationship with Leitner Poma / Doppelmayr. Furthermore, the minority owners might not be happy walking away from markets so depending on they have any agreements/contracts that give them sway, leaving the market may not be possible.
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I hope not, but that seems likely. If they actually get Bartholet to assemble their lifts in the US then maybe that will happen, but not likely.
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I think when the WV lift was announced, people questioned the wisdom of going with a manufacturer that was unknown in the US. Would there be problems with parts, service, etc….
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Someones gotta be first… Doppelmayr, Leitner, and Poma are all European manufacturers that would have built lifts before establishing USA manufacturing operations. I dont like seeing a third option get gobbled up, it would be nice to see more than a duopoly in the marketplace. Hopefully they can enjoy some independence like LPOA has done with Skytrac.
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It was not a duopoly but a monopole.
The only serious competitor remaining now is Beijing Ropeway from China….
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Well, that’s a shame.
I was rather hoping that BMF/MND would make headway in the US market, but apparently skilifts aren’t immune to the consolidation bug (I jest, I’m fully aware that this has been going on since I started in this whole insane business long ago). I had forlorn hopes that BMF would make a viable entrance into the North American market; I rather doubt that’s going to happen now. The last time this was a possibility was right before the mergers that created the current situation; Leitner, Poma, Doppelmayr, and Garaventa (via CTEC) all had market share. Now we’re down to two, and they seem to have quashed an entrance by a third. As a mechanic I don’t mind consistency, but having only two options really puts a crimp in ski areas’ replacement and/or expansion plans. We know this first-hand at our place.
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The problem with a new entry ‘making headway’ in the U.S. market is they first have to get a “toe-hold”. There are 2 types of customers for the new guy- 1) People that don’t yet have a favorite and 2) Those that now dislike their current manufacturer. While ski areas cheer for a ‘new guy’, they eventually listen to the sales staff from their manufacturer and pass on the new guy’s attractive bid. Bartholet (HTI) would have to invest $$$Millions to develop infrastructure to produce detachable lifts in the U.S. Until then, they would have to bring 75% of new lifts via container from Europe. This cost would put them at a pricing disadvantage with Doppelmayr and LPOA.
Leitner, unfortunately, was never viable in the U.S. market. They built a bulletproof product but not one major ski area stepped up and said “I’ll buy one”.
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How is the new six pack at Waterville Valley maintained if Bartholet is not supporting US lifts? It appears to be their entry lift with no intent to continue.
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The Waterville installation is and MND product using Bartholet’s detachable technology. It will continue to be supported by MND.
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The Waterville Valley MND Bartholet six pack is working out its start up issues and appears to be as robust and speedy as any lift I have ridden in the US. Perhaps there may be some rethinking of a USA business strategy.
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The contract for collaboration between the two companies runs through the end of 2023 for new installations, so there could be more new lifts in the works for this summer (in Europe), but as Michael said, it will be supported by MND.
https://www.mnd-bourse.com/en/financial-informations/press-releases.html?ID=ACTUS-0-73676
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I would be very surprised if any new MND-Bartholet lifts built prior to the end of the contract… ski areas spending millions on lifts don’t like uncertainty about future parts and support availability that we are guessing about as well. Waterville will most likely remain notable to us lift geeks of the only MND installation in the US (at least until they build a fixed-grip lift, or find/develop different detachable technology).
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I’ve changed my tune a bit on this since my earlier comment. I kind of wonder if HTI will market a Bartholet product to North America even though they’ll have to ship much of a lift from Europe. It will give them a slight production edge in that LPOA and Doppelmayr are maxed out here.
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Would a pure European Bartholet lift be different than the MND lift that they partnered with? They both share the same detach technology, but are could differ in many other ways. I was trying to find info, but found both websites difficult.
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