04.03.2006

So who owns Manitex now?

Veri-Tek International has issued a letter of intent to acquire all of the operating assets of Manitex, Inc, the boom truck and aerial lift producer based in Georgetown, Texas. Manitex is ultimately owned by Quantum value partners, which also happens to own the majority of Veri-Tek.

Veri-Tek is located in a 2,500 Square metre facility in Wixom, Michigan. It builds testing equipment for drivelines and supplies the automotive and off road market.

While it doubled its revenues in 2005, it still lost money on revenues of $3.5 million. Manitex on the other hand had revenues of $62 million in revenues in 2005, was profitable and boasts a strong order backlog.
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A Manitex mid sized boom truck.

David Langevin, a managing partner of Quantum, and the chairman/CEO of Manitex will take over as chairman of Veri-Tek. No mention is made of his ongoing position at Quantum.

Quantum purchased Manitex from Manitowoc in December 2002, when Manitowoc was forced to sell either it or National crane, following its purchase of Grove, which owned National. Manitex later purchased Phoenix aerials, renaming its products as Manitex-Skycrane.

Manitex has been on the market for several months, and has been looked at by a number of prospective buyers. The details of the Veri-Tek purchase have not been released

A statement issued by Veri-Tek says that necessary due diligence is ongoing, with a definitive agreement likely to be concluded in late March, subject to necessary stockholder, government, lender and other agency approvals, and close in April.

Vertikal Comment

An interesting transaction. One assumes that the prospective buyers, including we hear Palfinger, were not willing to pay Quantum the amount it wanted for Manitex. By selling privately owned Manitex to publicly traded Veri-Tek, one assumes that Quantum will get the price it wants and then sell of its majority holding in Veri-Tek as the multiples in the merged business suddenly justify a higher share price.

Quantum also owns Schaeff, which it bought from Terex and Noble, both of which produce truck mounted forklifts and other material handling equipment. Crane & Machinery Inc, a large distributor of Terex cranes in Illinois was purchased at the same time as Schaeff in late 2003 and as far as we know is still a part of Quantum.