KONECRANES buys DEMAG (MHPS)

 

Yesterday, the day had finally come for Konecranes to spread the news that it will buy Terex's crane division (DEMAG or MHPS) for € 1.13 billion. At last, Konecranes' many attempts to acquire DEMAG over the past two decades appear to be bearing fruit. Apparently, the Finns are paying 820 million dollars in cash. Additionally, Terex will receive a 25 percent Konecranes share package.

After the originally intended merger between Konecranes and the complete Terex business had faltered when the Chinese Zoomlion Group had made a takeover offer, we had made a statement towards the American news service CTFN in January 2016 that we were convinced that Konecranes would nonetheless secure its interest in Terex's crane division. This has now come to pass, albeit subject to approval by antitrust authorities, particularly in the US and Germany. The required investigations in these countries are still ongoing.

The implications for the crane and lifting industry will probably not be major. The merger between Terex and Konecranes, which had been announced in August 2015, had already pointed towards a further concentration of the crane and hoist market. The company created through the merger would be the world's largest provider of cranes and lifting gear (annual revenues € 3.15 billion).