Despite having virtually closed down its own access equipment business in recent years, Terex Corporation has signed a $75m takeover agreement with aerial work platform Genie Holdings, which had 2001 turnover of $575m ‘The acquisition of Genie is an excellent opportunity for us and meets all of our acquisition criteria, said Terex chairman and CEO Ron DeFeo.
‘Genie is a strong global brand with significant market share, and this acquisition diversifies our product offering with the addition of a complete line of aerial work platforms.
‘This is a business sector that three to four years ago had too many manufacturers and too much manufacturing capacity. However, the market has since corrected this imbalance and today Genie is one of two significant players in North America and three in Europe.’
DeFeo added: ‘The management team at Genie has done an excellent job building the Genie business and franchise over the years and are a welcome addition to the Terex family. Bob Wilkerson will continue with the company as president of Genie, helping us to grow the aerial work platform business and deliver value to our shareholders. In fact, the management team at Genie have already identified and implemented $25m in annualised cost savings that will directly benefit Terex shareholders.’
DeFeo continued: ‘The Terex franchise has grown significantly over the years, primarily through acquisition. With the proposed acquisition of Genie and the pending Demag acquisition, which we expect to close during the third quarter of 2002, Terex’s pro forma 2001 revenues would be approximately $3.4 billion, clearly making Terex one of the largest companies in the construction and mining business.
‘I believe that what has differentiated Terex during the downturn in the economy has been our ability to execute, not only on acquisitions, but also on our business model. Our ability to remain focused on low cost manufacturing, through outsourcing and low SG&A, has enabled us to remain flexible and able to respond to changing market conditions. This has also allowed us to be opportunistic and take advantage of opportunities as they arise in the market and position Terex for continued growth in the future.’
