Wikipedia
Cofidis Solutions Crédits is a French professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by a money-lending company, Cofidis. It was started in 1996 by Cyrille Guimard the former manager of Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon of the Renault-Elf-Gitane team of the 1980s. The team's sponsor has supported the team despite repeated problems such as doping scandals. After it was part of the UCI ProTour for the ProTour's first five seasons, from 2010 on the team competes as a UCI Professional Continental team.
Cofidis is a French company, now majority owned by the Crédit Mutuel.
Founded in 1982 by 3 Suisses International in cooperation with Cetelem, Cofidis specialized in the consumer credit business of the 3 Suisses Group. It has expanded since then.
Its business concept of offering customized consumer loans either by phone or over the Internet has been exported to other countries - Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece and Hungary. In 2003, Cofidis combined with Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe to found a new joint venture, Créfidis. And in 2004, Cofidis acquired a 66% equity stake in C2C, the financial services provider of the French Camif Group.