In July 2009, Konecranes widened its product offering by acquiring two companies. Konecranes increased its ownership in the Austrian ACS Konecranes GmbH (former ACS Technologies GmbH) from 49.9% to 80% and at the same time acquired the assets of the German company Knight Europe GmbH & Co. KG. Through these acquisitions Konecranes entered the market for load-handling solutions with aluminum rail systems and manipulators. Both companies’ main industrial segments are aviation, automotive, health care, solar energy, food and electronics industries.
ACS Konecranes GmbH is located in Thalgau, in the Salzburg region. The company has been partly owned by Konecranes since 2006 and employs 65 people. Konecranes has a call option to purchase the remaining 20% of the company’s shares.
Knight Europe GmbH & Co. KG, established in 1991, is located in Monheim, in the Cologne-Dusseldorf region, and employs 45 people. The company is well recognized in its field of business. In addition to load-handling solutions with aluminum rail systems and manipulators, Knight Europe also offers air balancers.
From an application and technology point of view, manipulators are positioned between cranes and robots. The manipulator business is closely linked to Konecranes’ competence, but it also offers new customer and product segments with a high business potential. The current fragmented market is estimated to be more than EUR 1 billion. The two acquired companies’ combined net sales were in 2008 approximately 15 MEUR.
“Through the acquisition of ACS and Knight Europe, Konecranes can in the future take the leading position in the manipulator industry,” says Ilpo Hakala, Director of Workstation Lifting Systems. “Our strengths are an extensive product offering, a large customer base, the financial strength to further develop the business and our global sales and service network.”
Further information:
Press
Ilpo Hakala, Director, Workstation Lifting Systems
e-mail: [email protected] or phone +358 20 427 3005
Investors and Analysts:
Sanna Päiväniemi, IR Manager
E-mail: [email protected] or phone +358 20 427 2050
This press release together with a downloadable picture is available on our website www.konecranes.com.
Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2008, Group sales totaled EUR 2,103 million. The Group has 9,700 employees in 485 locations in 43 countries. Konecranes is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (symbol: KCR1V).
www.konecranes.com
