The company that owns iconic Nottingham bike manufacturer Raleigh has begun insolvency proceedings.

Accell, based in the Netherlands, bought Raleigh for $100m in 2012 but said on Wednesday it had “exhausted all the available options” and was “no longer able to meet its financial obligations”.

It comes after a difficult period for Raleigh, which saw redundancies in 2024 and losses of £30m in accounts released the following year.

Jonas Nilsson, chief executive of Accell, said it was “a deeply sad and frustrating situation”.

Raleigh was founded in Nottingham in 1887 and at one stage was the biggest bicycle maker in the world, employing about 8,000 people at its peak.

It stopped making bikes in the city decades ago, and in 2024 it vacated its headquarters on Church Street in Eastwood to move to new premises less than a mile away.

Announcing plans to initiate insolvency proceedings, Nilsson said Accell had worked “to restructure [its] operations and finances”.

“Every realistic option for the future of the business has been tirelessly explored, and none have resulted in a solution to continue the group in its current form,” he said.

“Our immediate focus is to support an orderly process, provide clarity wherever possible, and work with the relevant court-appointed administrators to preserve viable activities and employment where circumstances allow.”

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