06.02.2006

JLG sells its Gradall excavators

JLG has just announced the sale of its Gradall excavator line to Alamo Group Inc. for $39.4 million in cash. The sale includes the 430,000 square foot manufacturing facility in New Philadelphia, Ohio and related equipment, machinery, tooling, and intellectual property

The Gradall excavator product line includes truck mounted, crawler and wheeled models and use a triangular telescopic boom rather than a traditional articulate excavator arm.

Alamo produces a range of mowing, highway maintenance and agricultural products including tractor and truck mounted mowing and other vegetation maintenance equipment, street sweepers, agricultural implements, front-end loaders and backhoes. The Company, based in Seguin, Texas, was founded in 1969, has over 1,860 employees at fourteen plants in North America. European operations are located in Salford Priors, England.

In addition to the purchase agreement, the companies have also agreed a supply agreement covering those components for JLG's telescopic material handlers that are currently manufactured at the New Philadelphia facility.

Vertikal Comment

This move is hardly a surprise for JLG, and is long expected, the Gradall excavator line is a niche product that had no fit at all with the rest of the JLG business. The move comes at a handy time following on the heels of the CAT telehandler deal. The proceeds will cover a good deal of the immediate costs for that acquisition.

JLG are on a roll at the moment, and are likely to end 2006 in the top two companies wordwide for each of the two markets it serves, aerial lifts and telehandlers.