Alpine accelerates its growth with the acquisition of Thunderplugs

Utrecht (NL), 5 November 2019 – Alpine Hearing Protection continues its growth strategy with the acquisition of Thunderplugs/Bananaz (Safe Ears B.V.).

Alpine, headquartered in Soesterberg (the Netherlands), develops and markets premium hearing protection products. Alpine was founded in 1995 by Peter and Lisette de Roode, who quickly saw the potential of innovative hearing protection products supported by a strong brand. At the end of 2018, Vendis Capital came on board as shareholder and Arthur van Keeken was appointed as CEO. All this with a straightforward ambition: to build the winning and largest brand in hearing protection.

Alpine’s strategy is based on bringing high-quality and innovative products to the consumer through all relevant sales channels. The strong organic growth will now be accelerated further by this acquisition of another successful hearing protection player.

Safe Ears B.V., better known under its brand name Thunderplugs, was founded in 2011 by two young musicians and entrepreneurs,  Koen Brouwer and Quinten Huigen. Their mission was to bring high-quality hearing protection products to the consumer in locations where it was most needed. Over the last number of years they have built a strong position in the so-called Events & Venues channel, with an extensive network of customers, including music clubs, venues and festivals.

Arthur van Keeken, CEO of Alpine, explains: “This acquisition strengthens our leading position in the Events & Venues channel. We strongly value this sales channel in the hearing protection market, on the one hand because it fulfils a direct need of the consumer at that given time, and on the other hand because it is often the first introduction of the (young) consumer to our products. We are also very pleased to welcome the Safe Ears team, led by Wouter Donkers, to our group and to continue to leverage the advice of Koen and Quinten in the future.”