With effect from 1st July 2016, leading rebreather manufacturer, rEvo Rebreathers became 100% owned by MARES.
The full details of the acquisition has been announced on the rEvo Rebreathers website in an open letter from rEvo Founder, Paul Raymaekers.
I want to inform all of you personally, of a major change in the rEvo organization.
After more than 10 years of creating, developing and growing rEvo, and knowing that none of my children will or can continue this business, I realized already some time ago that the only way to keep rEvo going, and even stronger growing than now, was to look for a partner that had common interests. A strong partner, that was already in the diving business, and had the strength and will to take this work further.
It took months of talking, negotiating, working out synergies, but in the end it became clear that we found the correct ‘modus vivendi’.
As a result, last week the deal was signed and rEvo changed ownership: rEvo BVBA has been acquired for 100% by MARES, one of the world’s leading diving manufacturers.
As you know, for a long time, Rebreathers have been a niche in the diving industry and were situated exclusively in the technical diving market. The objective for rEvo partnering up with MARES is to broaden the rebreather community by making rebreathers more accessible while maintaining the quality and performance levels.
This year, MARES released a product line called “Extended Range”, which is developed for recreational divers that want to extend their limits, for example by diving deeper and longer. Next to that, SSI, sister company of MARES, developed a complete range of entirely new open circuit technical training programs in answer to these needs.
In order to integrate the two businesses, rEvo will continue to develop and market the Rebreathers, and MARES will support the company with their research and development teams, manufacturing facilities and their worldwide distribution network.
For the coming years, I will keep managing rEvo, with strong focus on new product developments, and Pieter will keep taking care of the day to day business. As you can imagine, rEvo gets access to a range of new interesting opportunities and resources.
Both rEvo and MARES are driven by innovation and technology. I am convinced that this acquisition will strengthen rEvo’s products and service.
If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Warm regards, and looking towards a bright rEvo future,
Paul Raymaekers
rEvo Rebreathers