Tadano is to acquire IHI Transport Machinery Co, the crane and material handling subsidiary of IHI Corporation. Not to be confused with the IHI crawler crane and excavator business which was sold to Kato eight years ago.
Established in 1973 the Transport Machinery subsidiary’s current product range includes a combination of port and yard handling cranes along with large climbing Luffing Jib Tower Cranes for high rise tower construction, plus Port Ship to Shore, Large Offshore Cranes, Wind Power Cranes, Floating Cranes and Bulk Handling Systems.
The division had sales last year of ¥73.4 billion ($476.8 million) with an operating profit of ¥2.8 billion ($18.1 million) and net assets of ¥19.1 billion ($124 million). No information on the sale price has been disclosed - IHI said: "The transfer price is not disclosed due to contractual confidentiality obligations, however it has been determined through a fair process and is considered to reflect the company's value."
The transaction is expected to close at the start of July 2025.
A selection from the current range of IHI cranes
The IHI group business was founded in 1853 as Ishikawajima Shipyard and built its first crane in 1911, it adopted the Ishikawajima Heavy Industries name before merging with Harima Shipbuilding & Engineering in 1960, to create Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, or IHI. In 2007, the company adopted its current corporate title of the ‘IHI Corporation’. The sale is part of IHI's strategy to focus its efforts on its non traditional growth businesses, including Aero engine, Defence and Aero Space.
At one time the IHI produced mini crawler and mid size crawler cranes and had a supply and badging deal for the Americas with Terex/Demag which Tadano acquired in 2019. The crawler crane business, which also produced excavators, was sold to Kato in 2016.
Tadano said: “This acquisition brings valuable expertise to Tadano, building on their achievements and enabling synergies with our German based Crawler Crane business and aligns with our Mid-Term Management Plan to deliver new value for our customers’ business endeavours by diversifying the equipment portfolio to include a broader set of lifting solutions. It represents an important addition to Tadano’s growth strategy, advancing its position in the global lifting equipment market.”
An IHI climbing crane
Tadano chief executive Toshiaki Ujiie added: “We are excited to further enact our Mid-Term Management Plan through this acquisition. Tadano remains focused on the global lifting market and offers over a century of industry experience. However, Tower and Port Cranes are new products for our group, and they give Tadano the ability to develop deeper relationships with our customers and better serve their lifting needs. Additionally, the Ring Lift Cranes offer many synergies with our Lattice Boom Crawler Cranes manufactured by Tadano in Germany, and we anticipate these cranes will supplement our offshore wind power equipment needs.”
“This acquisition represents a strong commitment to customers and stakeholders,” adds Ujiie. “The combination of their transportation system business with Tadano’s existing resources is expected to deliver even greater value and strengthen leadership in the crane industry.”
Vertikal Comment
An interesting move by Tadano, its third acquisition this year and second in as many months following on from the take over of Nagano at the start of the year and the deal to acquire all of Manitex announced in September. One assumes that the IHI material handling business has good management and systems in place, making the acquisition a good deal easier and more practical to handling. Branding will be an interesting issue given that Tadano currently has no name or presence in the products covered by IHI.
Tadano senior management has a lot on its plate at the moment as it continues to work on the Terex/Demag acquisition and integration, plus Nagano and Manitex, and now this one. Perhaps it helps that this one is located in Japan.
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