Chinese Construction equipment manufacturer LiuGong Machinery Corporation is to acquire major Polish company HSW (Huta Stalowa Wola) Construction Equipment Division and its distribution subsidiary, Dressta.
Company executives announced the development at the show and vice chairman and president, Zeng Guang’an, said the acquisition is another bold step in LiuGong’s global growth strategy. Further acquisitions have not been ruled out.
“We are pleased to partner in this agreement with HSW as this provides an excellent opportunity for LiuGong to acquire manufacturing capacity in Europe, as well as technology that will supplement our machine lines,” said Zeng. “This acquisition helps us continue success with our five-year strategy to become a top 10 construction equipment manufacturer.”
When concluded by the end of May or early June, the acquisition will be LiuGong’s first outright purchase of manufacturing facilities and distribution outside of its domestic market, Zeng said.
Financial arrangements for the acquisition will be disclosed when the final agreement is signed. LiuGong said it would not acquire HSW’s military manufacturing business.
Currently LiuGong is one of the largest wheel loader manufacturers in the world with 15% global market share. It was the 15th largest construction equipment manufacturer in the world in 2010. It has 12 product lines, including wheel loaders, bulldozers, backhoes, skid steers, forklifts, graders, excavators, rollers, truck-mounted and crawler cranes and pavers, and last year it produced and sold more than 56,500 machines worldwide with production from 16 manufacturing facilities inside and outside of China.
Established in 1937, HSW manufactures crawler dozers at its plant in the Podkarpackie province in south-western Poland, and it also produces wheel loaders, side boom pipe-layers, and machines customized for landfill applications and logging operations.
Dressta is the exclusive marketer of HSW equipment with offices around the world. Machines are sold under the HSW brand in parts of Eastern Europe, but are sold under the Dressta brand throughout the rest of the world.
HSW stock is primarily government-held, with Poland’s State Treasury as the largest stockholder.
With HSW Dressta, LiuGong will acquire a well-respected and high-quality brand with a strong bulldozer line complementary to LiuGong’s product mix, said David W Beatenbough, vice president of research and development for LiuGong, and a leader in the acquisition effort. He noted the purchase accomplishes several strategic goals for LiuGong.
“With HSW Dressta, LiuGong acquires proven technology within the bulldozer segment,” said Beatenbough, adding that LiuGong will acquire all the patents for technology and designs, for complete machines as well as component technology including undercarriages anddriveline components such as axles, transmissions and torque converters.
“HSW is one of only seven manufacturers in the world with a full line of bulldozers. And the machines have a long design history that reaches back to International Harvester, which was an early developer of track-type undercarriages that led to true construction machinery, as we know it today.
“LiuGong will benefit from HSW’s world class engineering expertise and we’ll gain access to some large, high horsepower machines and advanced driveline component technology.”
Beatenbough observed that, like LiuGong with its 750 engineers working in R&D, HSW has an emphasis on innovation with a sophisticated research and development center. Both companies have an intense focus on quality.
“We’ll quickly be sending teams back and forth between Poland and China so we’ll be able to share innovations. We will continue production in Europe of HSW’s current product range, and supplement this with production in Poland of some of LiuGong’s core models to serve the European markets,” Beatenbough said, pointing out that LiuGong will also benefit from the reach of HSW Dressta’s distributor and dealer network, which will help LiuGong continue to penetrate important markets.
LiuGong has already located a plant outside its domestic market, having opened a wheel loader factory in India two years ago. The HSW acquisition gives LiuGong a plant already in operation in Europe close to its customers, with a highly skilled workforce, Beatenbough said.
