25.05.2006

Kone Buys MMH

Kone Cranes, the Finnish based Industrial, dock and shipyard crane company has acquired 59.2 percent of MMH Holdings Inc, through a new wholly owned subsidiary - HMM Acquisition Corp.

MMH inc is the owner of U.S. based Morris Materials Handling, Inc. The transaction is valued at approximately $ 38.5 million.
MMH Inc sold the Morris UK business was to its management in 1999, the UK business was then acquired by Konecranes in 2005.

MMH Inc filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2000 but has since recovered, revenues last year were in the region of $170 million. Sales in the first half of fiscal 2006 climbed to $102 million, with an operating profit of $5.5 million.

MMH filed a law suit against Konecranes in 2003 for violation of its intellectual property rights, alleging that Konecranes and its affiliates misused the P&H trademark which is licensed to MMH, and that it ‘passed-off’ non-P&H replacement parts as genuine P&H parts. A decision on this case is expected later this year.

MMH is based in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and has been in the overhead crane service and supply business for over 120 years.
Kone said that it was not able to conduct a due diligence investigation of MMH, but says that “based on Konecranes Inc.’s knowledge of the crane and crane maintenance industries the company has no reason to believe that Morris Materials Handling, Inc.’s general business and financial risk profile would materially deviate from what is typical in the U.S. in this field”.

Kone intends to acquire further shares in Kone, as and when it can.