The end has come for the ABU factory in Svängsta.
About ten days ago, the last Swedish reels left the factory.
And, perhaps just a few hours ago, the last day of work ended for many of the last handful of workers.
Unless they are sitting there right this very minute, friends and co-workers alike, sharing memories, telling stories of the glory days, or maybe just walking through empty rooms and listening to the walls tell their tale.
After over one hundred years, it is all over.
Fuk Sycamore Partners and their corporate greed. I wish them a miserable Christmas.
.
Another chapter of life in the angling world...
Surprised they hung on as long as they did.
😪😪
Best, Fred
I hope Penn survives.
Everything made in China and Korea now? Penn's levelwinds are made at that same Korean plant.
The Torque and International reels are built or assembled in the US.
I have a ABU Alphmar that has some parts interchangability with Fathom level wind reels.
Not good,,,, >:(
That's a shame, the corporate overlords can't squeeze enough out of them to keep the shareholders happy
It's all China now and what isn't soon will be...... sad but true
Todd
They should make a museum in the old building. Maybe Svängsta needs another attraction for the holiday fishing crowd.
It was inevitable, considering past news on the subject, but still a sad, sad, day! :( :'(
For now.
Considering their ownership, it's only a matter of time. Don't set your hopes too high. 🥴
My philosophy is that there is both good and bad with most things. Manufacturing companies have been selling and buying each other forever it seems. Usually, the quality is cheapened when this occurs. What's good about the modern financial corporation consolidation of manufacturing companies?... ahhh, ummmm...,?
Ok, the market for old school single country company products improves for sellers.
Quote from: Keta on December 23, 2025, 11:45:11 PMThe Torque and International reels are built or assembled in the US.
I have a ABU Alphmar that has some parts interchangability with Fathom level wind reels.
ABU Beast and Penn Fathom II are the same reel.
Robert (and anyone else that feels the same way),
If you really want to F_ _ Sycamore Partners simply stop buying any products associated with that name.
Vote With Your Dollar
Folks don't realize the power they have in matters like this. I thought after the Bud Light debacle
people would have an awakening to a means of combatting corporate greed. Private Equity is the culprit.
We the people.
Quote from: OhReely on December 27, 2025, 07:20:52 PMRobert (and anyone else that feels the same way),
If you really want to F_ _ Sycamore Partners simply stop buying any products associated with that name.
Vote With Your Dollar
Folks don't realize the power they have in matters like this. I thought after the Bud Light debacle
people would have an awakening to a means of combatting corporate greed. Private Equity is the culprit.
We the people.
Then they will gut the companies sell off the assets and then where will we be. I detest them but they have us by the....
Japan will make replacement parts.
These days most people buy the cheapest crap they can get away with. We are the exception.
Walk along a shore or down a pier. 90% of the anglers you see will have cheap junk gear.
Here most by cheep spinning reel packages. Steelheaders are a exception.
Quote from: Keta on December 28, 2025, 06:44:51 PMHere most by cheep spinning reel packages. Steelheaders are a exception.
That's because "most", as you reference, don't value their time or their money. Those types of people are usually the first to complain about how they can't get ahead, and also how expensive everything is.
To be fair the first and foremost purpose of a publicly traded company is to enhance shareholder value, at the expense of everything else...basically juice the stock price, and abandoning the traditional way of doing things becomes the norm, unfortunately. I even see it in the funeral business...Service Corp International (SCI) buys up family funeral homes, retains the familiar name and gives the former owner a management contract for maybe 5 years, then starts raising prices and skimping on service and the little extras the families had expected. They turned a special event into a commodity. It's the way of modern business.
Let's hope Penn doesn't go completely down the same road that ABU has traveled.
To be fair?
Show me the fairness in private equity.
Penn went down that road years ago. Just a matter of time before they join Abu.
You guys got somethin' against capitalism?
Show me the fairness in private equity.
That's what PE and venture capitalists too...strip value out of assets, destroy the brand equity and go on to the next victim. The sellers didn't have to sell to these vultures either, so there is some culpability there too.
Quote from: oc1 on December 29, 2025, 05:46:57 AMYou guys got somethin' against capitalism?
I do when it involves buying companies, draining their resources then dumping them.
I have noHo est hing against capitalism. It's one of the fundimentals of the American culture and our way of life. That and a reasonable expectation your getting value for your dollar if not you learn and shop elsewhere the next time. Take LL Bean as an example, Cabela's until they were gobbled up.l
Monopolies, no matter the scale, product or what you want to rename them, I detest. If you enjoy paying more to get less keep on keeping on. If not do something about it.
Capitalism and democracy have matured. But those grapes turned not to wine but to vinegar, as we all should have expected.
We hoped as democracy matured the populace would grow to mirror the ideals of our founding fathers, instead our leaders embody and promote the the worst impulses of dumbest among the electorate.
We hoped capitalism would benefit the people by promoting better products at lower prices thru competition. Instead the rewards for the most aggressively amoral, and the only thing to improve are the profit margins for people were doing just fine before. And product quality has been a steady race to the bottom for the last 30 years. Why sell a quality product when you could get people on a subscription plan for inferior junk?
People are poorer, dumber, and have been successfully led to believe they should be satisfied with utter garbage. I'm not sure what the "better" system is, but this one sucks.
Monopolistic and crony "capitolism" are basically theft and not true capitolism.
This thread will now be blocked because some of us can not play by the rules.