Terex sells UK compact business

Terex Corporation is selling its UK-based compact construction business to a subsidiary of Groupe Mecalac, which has manufacturing facilities in France, Germany and Turkey.

Mecalac is a manufacturer of a range of compact construction equipment for urban, utility and railway construction sites.

The Terex compact construction business in the UK – at Coventry – manufactures and sells backhoe loaders, site dumpers and compact compaction rollers.

The sale, which Terex said was subject to the customary closing conditions, is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2017.

John Garrison, president and CEO of US-based Terex, described Mecalac as a “logical strategic buyer” and said it had the resources and capability to grow the business further.

“For Terex,” he said, “the sale of the Coventry compact construction business represents continuing progress in our strategy to focus our portfolio on those product categories where Terex has a significant presence in the market, and that can provide the greatest returns for our shareholders.”

It is the latest in a string of Terex disposals. In the past few months, it completed the sale of its German compact equipment business to Japanese producer Yanmar in a €53 million deal.

Gregg Horne, general manager of the Coventry business, said, “We are pleased and excited about the opportunity to join the Mecalac family. They embrace our vision of market growth and product innovation for the Coventry products, and share the same values in terms of quality and team working.”

He added, “It will be very much business as usual for us and for our dealers, and we are working towards a seamless transition during the first half of 2017.”

Mecalac said the acquisition allowed it to broaden its offering with a complementary range of products, open up new geographical distribution areas and expand the group’s companies’ industrial know-how.

Henri Marchetta, CEO of Mecalac, said, “This acquisition follows our growth strategy, based on excellence, on the broadening of our range of equipment for urban construction sites, and on international distribution deployment.

“Our intent is to foster the sharing of expertise, the development of industrial and sales synergies, and to encourage cultural exchanges along with sharing our fundamental values among the teams.”