25.10.2016

Kato acquires IHI

Japanese crane and excavator companies Kato and IHI have signed an agreement to transfer all of IHI Construction Machinery equity to Kato Works. The deal with includes IHI crawler cranes and mini excavators is expected to complete in late November.

IHI Construction Machinery was established in 1952 as Ishikawajima Koehring, a joint venture with US based Koehring cranes and excavators. Since then the company has manufactured and sold a wide mini excavators, cranes, crawler carriers, and other construction machinery for sale in both Japan and overseas.

IHI has also had an OEM agreement Terex since 1999, to supply Terex branded crawler cranes, initially for the North American market where the relationship has been very successful over the years. A letter from Terex to its North American customers earlier today confirmed that its arrangements with IHI will remain in place under Kato ownership.

The move, part the IHI group’s restructuring plans, also fits well with Kato’s plans to expand its crane product range and geographic coverage. The company has recently made a comeback in the UK and Ireland with its city type All Terrain cranes, and now plans to extend this across other European markets as new products allow.