In early January 2011 Konecranes acquired Gruas Koman Limitada, the former licensee of Konecranes in Recoleta, Santiago, Chile. The acquisition also includes the Peruvian start-up subsidiary, Koman Gruas Peru S.R.L. The companies specialize in providing advanced overhead lifting solutions and maintenance services in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. The company has an installed base of almost 500 cranes, a majority of these built on Konecranes’ technology. In 2009 the company’s net sales amounted to approximately EUR 7 Million. The value of the acquisition is not disclosed.
Gruas Koman Limitada has been a Konecranes licensee for standard duty cranes since the early 1990s. The acquired company has almost 60 full-time employees, of which half are crane technicians. The company has an established crane maintenance business in Santiago, Antofagasta, Calama and other areas of Chile’s mining districts.
The acquisition provides an excellent opportunity for Konecranes to further consolidate and ultimately expand its penetration into the overhead lifting equipment market in Chile, Peru, Argentina, and the rest of Spanish-speaking South America. Konecranes has up until now served this market via its fully-owned subsidiary originating from the earlier Morris Material Handling acquisition in 2006.
“South America holds a great potential for the future growth of Konecranes,” says Tom Sothard, Senior Vice President and head of Konecranes Region Americas. “Gruas Koman is, via its installed base of equipment, an excellent base for building our service, parts and equipment business in South America.”
The acquisition is expected to have an immaterial impact on Konecranes’ results in 2011.
Further information:
Press
Mikael Wegmüller, Vice President, Marketing and Communication
E-mail: [email protected] or phone +358 20 427 2008
Analysts and investors:
Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations, Konecranes
E-mail: [email protected] or phone +358 20 427 2050
This press release is available at our website www.konecranes.com
Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions and services for lifting equipment of every make. In 2009, Group sales totaled EUR 1,671 million. The Group has 9,800 employees, at 545 locations in 43 countries. Konecranes is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd. (symbol: KCR1V).
