Terex Corp. has sold its Coventry, U.K., factory and its remaining compact construction business to Groupe Mecalac, a French manufacturer of compact construction equipment. The sale is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017. The factory manufactures site dumpers, rollers and backhoe loaders and will complete Terex’s exit from the compact construction equipment business, with excavators and wheel loaders having been sold to Yanmar, and skid-steer loaders and compact track loaders handled through ASV.
“We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Mecalac as they are a logical strategic buyer and have the resources and capability to further grow the business,” said John Garrison, Terex president and CEO. “For Terex, the sale of the Coventry compact construction business represents continuing progress in our strategy to focus our portfolio on those product categories where Terex has a significant presence in the market and that can provide the greatest returns for our shareholders.”
“The acquisition follows our growth strategy, based on excellence, on the broadening of our range of equipment for urban construction sites, and on international distribution deployment,” said Groupe Mecalac chief executive Henri Marchetta. “Our intent is to foster the sharing of expertise, the development of industrial and sales synergies, and to encourage cultural exchanges along with sharing our fundamental values among the teams.”
“It will be very much business as usual for us and for our dealers and we are working towards a seamless transition during the first half of 2017,” said Gregg Home, general manager of the Coventry business.
The products made at Coventry include backhoe loaders that have their roots in Massey Ferguson tractors. A management buyout at MF Industrial in 1992 gave birth to Fermec, which was acquired by Case in 1996 and then by Terex in 2000. In 2003, Terex moved production from Manchester to a new purpose-built factory in Coventry, which also makes site dumpers that the facility supplies to JCB under an OEM agreement.
