Fürnitz, Austria – Elan’s snowboard factory in Fürnitz, Austria, the world’s largest, has been purchased out of bankruptcy by CAPiTA Snowboards.

At an April 12 insolvency hearing, the CAPiTA ownership group, filing under the Austrian name C4future GmbH, was granted legal right to assume control of the factory. Facility control was obtained April 15 and the entire factory is again operational producing CAPiTA snowboards at this time under its own management.

Former Elan Austria CEO and Technical Director Michael Kollman brings 18 years of manufacturing experience at the facility to the CAPiTA team as Director of Production. Fifty highly skilled factory operatives have also been retained.

“This is a milestone in regard to our long held vision of vertical integration and production control,” commented CAPiTA President Blue Montgomery. “Our first commitment is ensuring our ability to deliver our 2013-14 line, consistent with our samples and on schedule, with the high quality standards that people expect of our snowboards. We’ve produced at this factory for ten years. We know the facility, technology and team very well and we’re sure of our ability to deliver our best lineup of boards to date.”

In its bankruptcy filing in March, Elan officials blamed increased raw materials costs and a decline in contract production for the bankruptcy of the plant, which employed 78 people full-time and another 90 seasonally. More than four million snowboards have been manufactured at the plant since its doors opened in 1987, making it the largest snowboard manufacturing plant in the world. Its past contract customers have included not only CAPiTA but also Academy, Allian, Amplid, Arbor, Bataleon, Dinosaurs Will Die, Lobster, Nitro and Rome.