Chinese takeaway for Italian lid manufacturer

Italian helmet manufacturer Suomy has been bought by a Hong Kong-based investment firm. The firm’s owner, Umberto Monti, has sold out to a little-known firm, SK Sport, which is described as a hedge fund by the Italian media.
Suomy, formed in 1997, has sponsored many of the great names in MotoGP and WSB over the years, including Max Biaggi, Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss. But the firm has hit hard times of late, making a loss of £167,000 on a turnover of £4.15million in 2012. It has also downsized its Italian production operation, shrinking the workforce from 110 employees in 2007 to 52. That’s down to the global recession, as well as a downturn in sales of sportsbikes, a market Suomy was strong in.
Umberto Monti told the Italian press that Suomy’s production line had been transferred to SK Sports and future production would be split between Italy and the Far East. “We’ve sold the moulds and machinery to produce the helmets. The low-to-medium-range helmets will be produced by a local partner in Indonesia, but the high-end lines will remain in production in Italy.”