'On the heels of a $115 million acquisition of Brooklyn Park-based Octane Fitness, Nautilus CEO Bruce Cazenave says the purchase will help Nautilus grow its international presence and offer higher price point products. \"Octane brought a lot of the innovation in areas that we don\'t have at Nautilus today,\" said Cazenave about the business acquisition earlier this month. Nautilus, the parent company of home fitness brands such as Bowflex, Schwinn and Universal, now adds Octane Fitness to its list of companies. Since 2001 when Octane Fitness launched its company with its first elliptical machine prototype, Octane has grown into a global company known for its high-end elliptical and zero impact equipment. The Brooklyn Park company now has 87 employees and more than 25 different products, including its latest invention: Zero Runner. \"It really takes the best of a tread mill and the best of an elliptical trainer, so you get real running like you do on a treadmill, but you get zero impact like you do on an elliptical,\" said Tim Porth, Octane Fitness Executive Vice President. \"We think about zero impact training, and that\'s what we started our focus on 14 years ago,\" said Octane Fitness President and CEO Dennis Lee. In spite of the business sale, Octane Fitness and all of its employees will remain in Brooklyn Park, said Cazenave. \"This business [Octane] is growing and thriving,\" said Cazenave. \"We don\'t want to disrupt the apple cart.\" Lee said the merger wouldn\'t have happened if they hadn\'t believed in the corporate culture and work environment of Nautilus. \"Nautilus is an extremely innovative company in their categories, in their products, and what they do, so to be able to benefit from their wisdom and the things their doing and cross-pollinate with Octane Fitness, is a real upside for the new combined company,\" said Lee. The founders of Octane Fitness believe its sale provides the company with more fuel for future innovation. \"We feel like it\'s a perfect fit,\" said Lee. Alexandra Renslo reporting http://www.ccxmedia.org https://www.facebook.com/ccxmedia.org/ http://twitter.com/ccxsports http://twitter.com/ccxnews Learn about our mobile app - http://bit.ly/CH12app Channel 12 is on Comcast cable in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.'
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