The U.K. subsidiary of Finning International Inc. will sell the business and assets of its material handling division to Briggs Equipment UK Ltd., a subsidiary of Sammons Enterprises Inc. of Dallas, for $159 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of this month.
"Following an extensive strategic review of our United Kingdom-based businesses, we determined that the Materials Handling division no longer represents a core business for Finning. The sale of this division will allow us to focus our financial and management resources on those U.K. businesses that are more closely associated with our Caterpillar equipment related core strengths," said Doug Whitehead, President and CEO of Finning. The gross sale price is approximately equal to the net book value of the tangible assets associated with the material handling division.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Finning International Inc. is one of the world's largest Caterpillar equipment dealers. The company sells, rents, and finances Caterpillar equipment and engines in Western Canada, the U.K., and South America. Finning also owns Hewden, the largest equipment rental business in the U.K.
