According to this report http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/spielzeugproduzenten-bobby-car-hersteller-will-maerklin-uebernehmen-1.1522619 they signed a MoI
Elsewhere there was mention that the large number of new items present for 2012 could have been a calculated move to have the banks believe the sales of those items would result in x number of € € € on the bottom line. Reminds of the “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched”
HJ,
deja vu, only this time maybe no rose coloured glasses to obscure the view.
And then there is KISS who plan on realigning their business model 
BTW Märklin has plenty of unhappy customers in all the scale segments from Z to IIm.
(http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/vsmith/criswell_predicts.jpg)
Back when the Hindenburg burned and crashed on that field in Lakehurst NJ I predicted that if Marklin aquired EPL they would for all intents and purposes become a high end beautique brand like KISS or Brawa, very high prices and an haughty “if you can’t afford it - you don’t deserve it” attitude. I feel I have been about 70% correct in that assessment, example: $200+MSRP for a Toytrain level Porter (ohhh it has sound and decoder?.. BFD if you don’t want it) and correspondingly higher prices across the board for most items while targeting more affluent model rr’s. EXACTLY like Markin markets their HO, N and Z lines where “if you can’t afford it - you don’t deserve it” rules the roost. All during one of the worst worldwide economic downturns in history. Now are we see the end result of this steadfasted determination to ignore market forces? Just this year LGB announced they are resurrecting the Toytrain line…sort of…and now this sale (or hostile takeover?) offer. One things for sure, no one ever accused Dickie of making overpriced haughty high end beautique toys: :lol:
(http://img0044.popscreencdn.com/133517652_dickie-203563905-freight-train-cargo-train-.jpg)
Oh Gawd - not this again.
The banks destroyed LGB and now Marklin will most likely suffer a similar fate!
That is nothing new; it’s “show me the money” time, again.
Looks like Aristo and USA will be the last two standing at this rate… I don’t count Bmann cause they are solid narrow gauge models
Uhh ohh, is it time for the ventilators to surface again ?
Gary Buchanan said:I hope so, it'll make targeting my bans easier.
Uhh ohh, is it time for the ventilators to surface again ?
I’m learning … I understand that Maarklin is the world’s biggest mfr of model trains. I had been led to believe that they were especially high quality too.
Now HJ’s post re customer complaints points in a different direction… Sounds like Aristo!
I don’t own any Maarklin - do have some of their 45mm NS track and it’s excellent, IMO. (Section too small for B’mann or LGB stock wheels, tho’) -
Now rumors that they’re in trouble financially - if true, regardless of any quality issues, it’s not good news. I like to see many choices in the marketplace, competition keeps everybody honest… We’re better off with all of them active and healthy!
I remember Bachmann wayback in the - '60’s? seemed to me back then they were importing H.O. cheap junk & I wouldn’t touch their brand in those days. It’s taken decades of steady improvements, but nowadays as far as I can tell their stuff is pretty good, judging by the comments I’ve read hereabouts. Once they started equipping their LS stuff with metal wheels and improved their drive systems, I began to sit up and take notice.
Tough all over in the MR biz these days, and I hope to see everybody come out healthy on the other side of this…
The gist of it is. The banks own the majority of the company - same story as always - if they want their money a buyer(s) need to be found. The insolvency trustee was talking “a number of interested parties” for some time, nothing happened. Of course he also mentioned that there was no hurry, if the company could show a profit.
How he arrived at the supposed selling price is anyone’s guess (I think it came to him in a wild dream!). Now it’s back to “let’s wait and see”; how soon the banks want their money and how low they will go … it will all come out in the wash.
As far as the rest of the circus goes, I don’t believe that anyone this side of the pond has a horse in this race i.e. if there’s any excitment it propably is in lieu of having better things to do. 
The only player with money is Kadar/Bachmann. If things continue, the market will have plenty of bargains for them.
Barry
Dunno about a wild dream - more like a wet dream methinks. A bit too much Mulligan stropping going on for us mere Plebs to understand.
HJ-
Is the scenario as simple as the market for large scale (including LGB)is now so small the banks are willing to eat a loss or break even just to sell? Now, who would buy? Further, who would buy using the current LS market as a predictor of investment return?
Hmmmm. Maybe Bachman will buy what’s there and then clinch the market by offering the LGB image as the “premier” product. Ahhh, let’s see: “LGB SPECTRUM” quality. Saleable image?
Wendell
Wendell,
LGB would be just a “yes, we get that too” item. Märklin has a very wide model railroad product palette. Someone buying the complete package and then selling off some of the parts to interested parties is always possible. The trick is to get parties interested at the right price.
If Simba-Dickie Group would be a good fit is anyone’s guess. Have a look at their site.
