John Deere & Co. has sold its Nortrax construction dealerships in Louisiana, East Texas, Mississippi, western Tennessee and Arkansas, to two different buyers.

The Houston-based Leslie Doggett Equipment Services Group approached Deere in June 2006 about acquiring the Louisiana and East Texas Nortrax dealerships and the transaction was approved earlier this year. The $103-million acquisition was finalized early this month.

The acquisition will more than double Doggett’s annual sales and give it the exclusive right to sell Deere construction and forestry equipment, and Hitachi heavy construction equipment in the region through 11 dealerships. The deal gives Doggett 23 heavy equipment dealerships with 650 full-time employees.

Doggett plans to expand Nortrax South’s rental offering and mechanical support services for oilfield-related construction, infrastructure improvements and Hurricane Katrina rebuilding in Louisiana.

The 11 acquired dealerships are in New Orleans (Covington and Kenner), Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, Baton Rouge, Alexandria and Shreveport, La., and Lufkin, Longview and Tyler, Texas.

Meanwhile, Stribling Equipment LLC, based in Jackson, Miss., has acquired the South Region operations of Nortrax in Mississippi, western Tennessee, and eastern Arkansas. Stribling’s Deere sales and service territory will encompass all of Mississippi, the 21 western counties in Tennessee and 14 counties in eastern Arkansas. The three former Nortrax locations in Memphis, Tenn.; Jackson, Tenn., and Tupelo, Miss., are now part of Stribling, which has nine other branches.