As Hoist revealed in its latest issue, Konecranes originally bought 59.2% of the company – on 19 May – before upping its stake to 74.5% just seven days later.
The original consideration amounted to around $38.5 million, Konecranes reported. The consideration for the second 15.3% stake amounted to a further $9.9m.
Now, a further $10.3m worth of shares has taken its acquisition to 90.9%.
The acquisition ends the three-year legal wranglings between Morris Material Handling and Konecranes Inc about competition for aftermarket parts, currently scheduled for trial in August. In the case, Konecranes sued for the return of a deposit of $250,000 it paid Morris during the initial stages of a previous acquisition that fell through.
Preceding the initial announcement, Konecranes made an interesting change in personnel. Previously, Tom Sothard had two roles as both head of global maintenance services and KCI Konecranes Americas region. However, the company announced the appointment of Hannu Rusanen as president of the maintenance and services business area, leaving Sothard to focus purely on his role in the region concerned with Morris Materials Handling. For the present, Rusanen will also continue in his current position as head of the Nordic region.
Morris Materials Handling Inc is based in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and is the licensee of the P&H brand. Annual sales for the company in fiscal year 2005 were approximately $170 million. First half of fiscal year 2006 sales were $102 million, with an operating profit of $5.5 million (5.4% of sales). The company has approximately 980 employees. This information is based on Morris Materials Handling financial update published on May 10 2006, Konecranes said.
Morris emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2001.
“Due to the nature of the transaction it has not been possible to conduct a due diligence investigation of the target company,” Konecranes said in a statement. “However, based on Konecranes Inc.’s knowledge of the crane and maintenance industries the company has no reason to believe that Morris Materials Handling, Inc.’s general business and financial risk profile would materially deviate from what is typical.”
