Erik Buell Racing sold for $3m: UPDATED

The Wisconsin-based Erik Buell Racing has been sold to a company called Atlantic Metals Group LLC, which has purchased all of the company's assets in one fell swoop for $3m — and now wants to rehire former employees and reignite the business.

The acquisition, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel, includes factory machinery, tooling, motorcycle inventory, parts inventory, accounts receivable and intangible assets.

The man behind Atlantic Metals Group is Bruce Belfer, who told the Milwaukee Sentinel that he's partnering with company founder Erik Buell to get the company back on its feet, in Wisconsin, as soon as possible.

"What it boils down to is the people," Belfer, a keen motorcyclist, was quoted as saying. "These people have homes and friends and family and kids in school, and you don't just uproot them and move them like you can do with inanimate objects. These people are Erik Buell Racing, so I have to look at that as a fact of doing business.

Belfer said the company founder, Erik Buell, will continue designing motorcycles for the restarted business. Belfer also will have key roles.

"I run a number of businesses, and you don't run a business by remote control. So, yes, I will be actively involved in the business and in the engineering and design of products," he said.

"Erik is a tremendously gifted engineer...He's an exceptional leader, who has earned exceptional loyalty from his team and legions of Buell and EBR riders. But he was distracted by Hero's demands in its consulting contract, resulting in a vacuum in the senior management of running the manufacturing business.

"I think the combination of (Buell's) skills and mine makes for a solid business model."

On top of the $3m that Belfer paid for EBR, Hero MotoCorp, which owned 49 percent of the American brand, forked out $2m for R&D assets a few weeks ago. That's a total take of $5m for the court-appointed receiver – a massive gulf to the $27m owed to creditors, including nearly a million dollars to a Japanese engine design firm and $525,000 to Porsche Engineering Group.

Thirty-seven buyers showed interest before the auction, but only two eventually got to the business end of proceedings. However, prior to the auction, Atlantic Metals reached an agreement for a $3m early bid, with other bidders having to fork out at least $3.2m if they wanted to get hold of EBR. No bids were made at the auction, so Atlantic's stalking horse bid was accepted.