MIAMISBURG, Ohio — Huffy Corp. has agreed to buy the trademark and other assets of competitor Schwinn/GT Corp. for more than $60 million.
Schwinn said it has filed for bankruptcy protection, a move that will be required for Huffy to make the purchase.
Schwinn, based in Boulder, Colo., is one of the most widely recognized bicycling brand names in the world and will strengthen Huffy, said Don Graber, Huffy's chairman, president and chief executive.
He said Tuesday that the deal must be approved by the bankruptcy court and that other companies will have a chance to bid for Schwinn's assets. "But we feel good about having a bid going into the process," Graber added.
Last month Schwinn chief executive Jeff Sinclair said the company, which merged with GT Bicycles to become Schwinn/GT in 1998, had a short list of buyers and that the sale could be complete within the next month. He insisted it would not mean the brand's demise.
The company's owner since 1997, Southfield, Mich.-based Questor Partners Funds, put Schwinn up for sale in April.
"What they're buying is assets of the company and one of the prime assets of the company is the Schwinn brand," Sinclair said in the statement Monday.
Sinclair and Schwinn company spokesman Tom Soper did not return phone messages left Tuesday seeking additional comment.
Huffy, which makes bicycles and basketball backboards, has suffered in recent years because of competition from foreign manufacturers. In 1999, Huffy closed its last two U.S. bicycle-making plants and moved production to Asia and Mexico because of price competition from Chinese manufacturers.
Schwinn, founded in Chicago in 1895, was the dominant bike-maker for much of the 20th century; by the 1950s, one in four bikes sold in the United States was a Schwinn.
The company lost much of its market share in the 1980s after failing to capitalize on the mountain-bike craze and losing its appeal to younger bikers. It filed for bankruptcy in 1992.