On 4 May, Konecranes announced it had signed an agreement to acquire 65% of Jiangsu Three Horses Crane Manufacture Co. Ltd. (SANMA), a Chinese hoist and crane manufacturer. The deal was first announced in a letter of intent published in November 2008, and is set to be finalised in the third quarter.
SANMA will be converted into a joint venture between Konecranes and the existing management, who will maintain 35% of the company. Konecranes said SANMA has a strong position as a nationwide supplier of wire rope hoists in China and crane supplier in Jiangsu and the surrounding provinces.
“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with SANMA’s shareholders on this joint venture and are eager to start working with them to develop the company,” said Konecranes’ president for the northeast Asia region, Harry Ollila.
This announcement was the last for Ollila in his Asian capacity as on 6 May it was announced he was heading up a new market operations function, that will take responsibility for sales management and support, global account management and the development of solution marketing at Konecranes.
The development of the market operations function coincides with Konecranes moving to a two-tiered management structure consisting of the group executive board and the extended management team. The group executive board includes Pekka Lundmark, president, CEO and chairman of the group executive board; Hannu Rusanen, president of the service division; Mikko Uhari, president of new equipment business areas; Teo Ottola, chief financial officer; Pekka Lettijeff, chief procurement officer; Ari Kiviniitty, chief technology officer; and Ollila.
The extended management team includes the presidents of Konecranes regional organisations, namely Pierre Boyer, president in the EMEA region; Tom Sothard, president in the Americas; and Edward Yakos, president in south-east Asia-Pacific; Sirpa Poitsalo, director of the general counsel; Jaana Rinne, director of talent management; and Mikael Wegmüller, director of marketing and communications.
Both structure changes come into force on 1 September.
Then, on 7 May, the Konecranes’ executive management announced it was acquiring 500,000 shares in the company through its own company KCR Management Oy. KCR Management was established by the executive management in order to invest in Konecranes and will see executives contribute EUR1.3m (USD1.7m) and Konecranes offer a EUR1.7m (USD2.2m) loan to fund share purchases. It is intended to increase the management’s ownership of company shares and its commitment to long-term shareholder value.
“Through this incentive programme the executives personally invest a substantial amount of their own money in company shares,” said Stig Gustavson, chairman of the board of directors at Konecranes. “The arrangement is proof of management’s confidence in its company.”
