Austrian company Palfinger has taken over German tail-lift manufacturer MBB Liftsystems in an attempt to extend its range and increase its international presence. While the takeover has been agreed it is still subject to approval from the German and Austrian antitrust authorities.
Herbert Ortner, Palfinger's chief marketing officer, says: "MBB will considerably strengthen
our tail-lift product division, which is still very small. At the moment we only cover a small area with the Palgate tail-lift and Ratcliff products.
"With MBB we will be able to complete our product portfolio and enter markets in which we are not yet represented with our tail-lifts such as North America."
MBB's headquarters are based near Bremen and it has distribution subsidiaries in Britain, France, Belgium, Slovakia and the US. For the 2007 financial year it is predicted to generate €65m (£45.5m), increasing Palfinger's total revenue by around 10%.
Palfinger is a global manufacturer of hydraulic lifting, loading and handling systems and employs 3,500 staff. In 2006 it had total sales of €585.2m (£409.3m).
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