Terex has added to its German portfolio by acquiring Atlas Weyhausen, the manufacturer of loader cranes and wheeled excavators, and the Schaeff Group, which makes scrap handlers and compact construction equipment. Atlas’ 2001 revenues are estimated at $180m, and Schaeff’s at $220m.
Terex executive vice president Fil Filipov will be responsible for restructuring both businesses. He has already been advising Atlas since July when US venture capitalists bought the company. At that time his son Steve Filipov was seconded from Terex to be chief executive of Atlas.
Fil Filipov said: ‘The process of lowering the costs of Atlas is well underway. The product quality is excellent and the cooperation we have received from the labour unions has been outstanding. We believe there are significant consolidation and sourcing opportunities among Schaeff, Atlas and the Terex Group generally. Specifically, we have identified about $41m of cost reduction initiatives, with about $24m already implemented at Atlas.’
Terex CEO Ron DeFeo said the acquisitions would ‘provide distribution synergies between Atlas and Schaeff, as well as with other Terex products that are under-represented in Germany.’
DeFeo said: ‘The acquisitions are an excellent fit with Terex’s strategy of diversifying both the products and geographic range of our customer offerings. The combination of Atlas and Schaeff will increase our penetration into Germany by adding $250m in annual German revenues and 60 independent dealers.’
