19.03.2026

IPS Cranes acquires American

US crane rail crane manufacturer, refurbishment and re-manufacturing company IPS Cranes has acquired the design rights and technology for the American Hoist & Derrick crawler crane products. And will take over the product support for these and the subsequent Terex models that came after it acquired American in 1998.

The deal includes the cranes, and all boom and jib components, but not the third hoist drums and their components. IPS has been producing replacement lattice boom sections for Terex since 2019.

IPS Cranes launched the new agreement at Conexpo earlier this month. According to Terex, the Terex crane models covered by the deal include the: HC50, HC165, HC60, HC165-1, HC80, HC230, HC110, HC275, HC110-1, HC285 and HC120. While the original American hydraulic models include the A100HC, HC125, HC150, HC185 and HC210.

In a way, this is a ‘coming home’ for American, as IPS Cranes was established by Tom Holly in 1988 as a spin-off from American Hoist. He had managed its prototype test division and bought that business out when the American plant closed. In 2001, IPS acquired American & Ohio Locomotive Cranes, and in 2013, it built its first new locomotive crane. Earlier this year, it acquired Markload, a load monitoring system manufacturer.

For a good few years now the business has been owned and managed by chief executive Jackie O’Connell, who joined the company in1996 for an internship, impressed by what she achieved during that time, Holly invited her back a couple of years later - after she had completed a Fullbright scholarship that took her to Japan - when he was looking for someone to eventually succeed him. She had a small advantage in that her father had spent his career working with locomotive cranes, so she was no stranger to cranes.

She moved into her current role in 2013. Today, the company operates from facilities in St Paul and Duluth, Minnesota.

American and Terex background

Terex acquired American in 1998 for $27 million, following its takeover by a group of investors in 1985. They decimated the business after closing American’s plant and historic base in St Paul, Minnesota, where it had been building cranes since 1895, and relocating to Wilmington, Delaware, losing almost all of the skills and knowledge of its employees. Production never really got going in Delaware, and it was moved to Conway, North Carolina, when Terex took over.

The long break in production virtually killed off a once proud name in the crane business. Terex did, though, go on to introduce American inspired hydraulicly powered lattice boom models under its own name and had some success, those models are included in this transaction.