George Caplea new Division President within the Thule Group
Malmö, September 19, 2006 – Thule, the world leader in Sports Utility Transportation, announces the recruitment of George Caplea as new Division President for its North American Towing Systems operations. George Caplea is the former Executive President of the Trelleborg Group who recently decided to leave the company after nine years of service.
“I am extremely glad that George Caplea joins the Thule Group from October 1. His long experience in the automotive industry will be decisive in improving the performance for our newly acquired North American Towing Systems operations”, says Anders Pettersson, President & CEO of the Thule Group. “Our talks with George have been ongoing for a period of time and I am happy that we could finalize them successfully”, Anders Pettersson adds.
Thule acquired in May Brink International, SportRack Accessories and Valley Industries with a combined sales of SEK 1.83 billion. Valley Industries is the second largest North American towing systems supplier and shows annual sales of 100 MUSD.
“We are not satisfied with the current performance of the North American Towing Systems operations. It will be George’s assignment to develop our market position in the North American market through a combination of improving supply chain and sales performance”, concludes Anders Pettersson.
For further information please contact:
Anders Pettersson, President and CEO, phone: +46 (0) 703 414150 Daniel Oelker, SVP Corporate Communication, phone: +46 (0)730 799004
About Thule:
Thule is the world leader within Sports Utililty Transportation delivering transportation solutions for active families, professionals and outdoor enthusiasts wanting to transport their equipment by vehicles safely, easily and in style. The product portfolio comprises load carriers for cars such as rooftop boxes, roof rails and bike carriers. Additionally, the company offers snow chains, towing systems, trailers as well as accessories for motor homes and caravans. Thule has approx 3,700 employees at over 30 production and sales locations on all major car markets in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Pro forma sales (including Brink, Valley and SportRack) amount to SEK 5.2 billion (approx € 560 M). Thule AB is based in Malmö, Sweden, and majority owned by UK-based private equity firm Candover (www.candover.com) . More information is available at www.thule.com.