China's Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, or XCMG, has acquired a majority stake in Germany’s Schwing Group GmbH, news agency Reuters says. The deal confirms earlier reports in ENR during the "World of Concrete" show in Las Vegas.
German management will remain in charge, said XCMG Chairman Wang Min in a statement. The 78-year-old Schwing brand is a critical part of XCMG’s “strategic development" for expanding into lucrative Asian markets, the company said.
China is the world's largest market for truck-mounted concrete pumps, accounting for roughly 4,000 of the 6,000 machines produced worldwide last year. Deal specifics were not disclosed. However, XCMG is seeking a three-year, $210-million loan as part of the Schwing purchase, Reuters says.
Although Schwing employs about 3,300 staff in seven countries, the privately owned company is cutting 170 positions, or more than a fifth of jobs, at its Herne headquarters as a precondition of the sale, according to an earlier report in Financial Times Deutschland.
"At this point we do not have any additional information to share," said Tom O’Malley, Schwing America Inc. vice president of sales and marketing, in an e-mail exchange.
A manufacturer of concrete pump trucks, stationary pumps, truck mixers and batch plants, the St. Paul, Minn.-based Schwing subsidiary emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 following deep cutbacks in concrete construction spending.
Schwing's deal with XCMG falls on the heels of another major Sino-German acquisition this year. In January, China-based Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. agreed to buy Putzmeister Holding GmbH, another major concrete equipment manufacturer.
