11.03.2010
Terex sells Atlas
Terex has sold its Atlas loader crane and excavator business to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed sum. The 800 employees will transfer to the new owner.
Product lines included in the deal are Terex Atlas loader cranes and material handlers, crawler, wheel and rail mounted excavators. The Ganderkesee, Vechta and Delmenhorst, facilities in Germany and Terex Atlas of Bradford, UK. It also includes Terex’s minority holding in the Atlas Chinese joint venture.
The business is being divested with an agreed-upon amount of capital to be transferred with the business and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, with completion expected in the second quarter of 2010.
Terex chief executive Ron DeFeo, said: “The Atlas divestiture is another important step forward in the strategic repositioning of Terex. We acquired the Atlas business in 2001 with the intention of having a quality full-size excavator as part of a globally competitive portfolio of construction equipment. Our goal was to grow the regionally strong Atlas excavator product as part of this strategy, but we were, for various reasons, never able to achieve the product cost advantage required for it to be successful.”
“Despite restructuring attempts, the tough economic conditions in 2009 resulted in an operating loss for this business in excess of $61 million on sales of approximately $194 million, with approximately two-thirds of the loss coming from the construction products.”
UPDATE NOTE: Local reports claim that Fil Filipov is the buyer of Atlas see seperate report.
Vertikal Comment
This is no great surprise and it is likely that the sale did not yield a great deal for Terex, it will though eliminate a loss making part of the business for which it had no strategy that was likely to change things.
It is a little surprising that the crane business was included, after having appeared to ignore the business for several years Terex seemed to have changed its attitude towards Atlas cranes and had only recently integrated it in to the crane division and looked intent to build the business.
One assumes that the buyer wanted it to be included, while it also allowed it to dispose of the Delmenhorst facility.
C R Dubé
The local newspapers here in Delmenhorst are saying that Phil Filipov and his Bulgarian company has purchased the Atlas component of Terex. Perhaps your German subsidiary should look into it further, especially the Delmenhorst daily paper.