19.08.2020

Dingli takes a stake in Teupen

Chinese aerial lift manufacturer Dingli has acquired a 24 percent stake in German spider lift manufacturer Teupen.

Dingli has held a 20 percent stake in Italy’s Magni Telehandlers since 2016 and a 25 percent stake in California based MEC Aerial Work Platforms since 2017. The transaction was apparently agreed and signed on Friday evening.

Dingli says that in addition it will open a new Dingli European Research & Development centre (R&D, Germany) along similar lines to the centre it has with Magni in Italy. It added: “Through technology sharing with Teupen, both parties will jointly develop a series of self-propelled boom lifts with large load and high reach - 36 to 50 meters - and cooperate with a full series of electric powered machines, including boom lifts, scissor lifts and vertical lifts, etc… to create a whole series of product ecosystem.”

Teupen was founded in 1977 by Bernd Teupen to produce a range of furniture hoists, introducing a trailer lift the following year and adding its first tracked spider lift in 1987. At a later date it added small truck mounted lifts, mainly for the local market.
The business was acquired by managing director Alfons Thihatmer and Andreas Grochowiak in the 1990s. They sold a majority stake in the company to private equity firm Nord Holding in February 2008, with Thihatmer leaving the company two years later. Hanover Finanz took a majority stake in the company in 2012 selling it, to Martin Borutta in 2017, two years after he was recruited to head the business as chief executive.

Dingli has been interested in the spider lift market for some time and built its own small spider lift a few years ago for the local market. Then last year it signed a cooperation deal with Platform Basket to represent it in China.
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Teupen manufactures spider lifts from 12 to 50 metres

Vertikal Comment

This is probably a good move on the part of Dingli as it looks to extend its coverage of the global powered access market. It provides some invaluable expertise, while possibly helping Teupen with distribution in some parts of the world. The Teupen name is still a strong brand, as are Magni and MEC, and when it comes to selling larger or more expensive equipment in the west brand is critical and takes a long time and a great deal of investment to build.

So far Dingli appears to have been a model minority investor in Magni and MEC, and one can expect nothing different with Teupen, with the possibly exception that other Teupen shareholders might be keen to sell up at some point in the not too distant future. The company has reportedly been on the market a number of times in the past few years but at a price too high for most buyers to consider seriously. With a decent stake in the business Dingli can learn more about the business and be in a strong position to acquire the whole business at some time in the future.