21.05.2007

Ingersoll-Rand looks to sell off Bobcat

Ingersoll-Rand may sell or spin-off Bobcat and its construction-related businesses. The company said that that the business, which generated revenues of US $2.6 billion last year out of total group revenues of £11.4 billion, no longer fits in with its strategy.

“We are exploring our options right now,” Paul Dickard, an Ingersoll-Rand spokesman, said last week. “We have made no secret of wanting to divest or move away from a capital-intense machinery profile.”

Bobcat, known for its skid-steer loaders, and more recently telescopic handlers, employs more than 2,600 people in North Dakota and is headquartered in West Fargo.

Bobcat’s revenues dropped by about five percent last year primarily due to a decline in the North American market, but this would not put off potential buyers. Indeed several companies are already looking at purchasing the company.

Ingersoll-Rand expects to make a decision on Bobcat’s future sometime this year and would spin off Bobcat to its shareholders if it were for sale but did not fetch a favorable asking price.
Bobcat began as Melroe Manufacturing, making a skid-steer loader originally designed to clean turkey barns in southeastern North Dakota. Melroe, founded in 1947, became part of Clark Equipment, which sold it to Ingersoll Rand in 1995.

Earlier this year Volvo acquired Ingersoll Rand’s road-building equipment unit which included its telehandlers and rough terrain forklift trucks for US$1.3 billion.