In the biggest news in the tackle industry for some little while Rapala and Shimano – two of the world’s largest tackle companies – have announced a joint venture to create what is likely to be the biggest tackle company in the UK.
The new company, to be called Shimano Normark UK, will provide sales, marketing and product development in the UK for all brands under the new company ‘umbrella’ including: Shimano, Rapala, PowerPro, Sufix, Dynamite Baits, G.Loomis and Storm.
With Rapala’s acquisition of Dynamite Baits last year there was intense trade speculation that a major new carp brand would be developed and this now appears to be coming to fruition with Rapala announcing at the recent European Fishing Tackle Trade Association (EFTTEX) show in Amsterdam that it has acquired Advanced Carp Equipment (ACE) and plans to make a major investment into it.
ACE is the baby of ex-Fox International director Max Cottis, widely regarded as one of the best product development brains in the industry, who is now part of the new Rapala team who will be developing a whole new range of carp accessories which will complement existing the existing Shimano / Shimano Tribal brands.
Interesting times in the trade indeed, watch this space for further developments.
