Morris Material Handling is to sell its interests outside North America as part of a plan to restructure and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Vice president-finance David Smith said that Morris had decided to retrench “to focus on just the North American business which has been very profitable for us, and to simplify the structure. And quite frankly we need the cash.” Operations in the UK, South Africa, Singapore and Australia are up for sale. By converting debt to equity and paying off other creditors, it is expected that Morris will emerge from Chapter 11 in the spring of 2001.
Smith said that it was unlikely that the non-US businesses would be sold as a single operation.
