Cargotec Corporation, the parent company of Kalmar Industries has issued an official statement from Helsinki that its acquisition of Italian company CVS Ferrari "has been put on hold."
When the acquisition was announced last December, spokesmen for Cargotec and Kalmar indicated that the necessary regulatory approvals were expected to be given by March or April this year at the latest.
However, Cargotec now states that "the German competition authorities are demanding remedy actions." Cargotec believes that the remedies being sought "are disproportionate to the impact the contemplated transaction would have on the competitive environment," but it has no choice but to find a solution and says that it is co-operating with CVS Ferrari in order to arrive at one and be able to finalise the acquisition. "For the time being," says the statement, "both Cargotec and CVS Ferrari continue to be independent competitors pursuing their own business."
Even though other OEMs are active in the German reach stacker market it is the combined impact of Kalmar and CVS Ferrari that is of key concern to the German competition authorities. The situation is not helped by the fact that there are no reliable industry figures on global production of heavy lift trucks and reach stackers, and to that extent the authorities are groping in the dark, although they must have had reliable figures relating to Kalmar and CVS.
As previously reported in WorldCargo News (April 2007, p31), no less than 23 of the 60 reach stackers believed to have been supplied into the German market in 2006 were built by CVS Ferrari, giving it a market share of 38%. Kalmar's penetration of the German market is not known, but as it is easily the biggest reach stacker builder in the world and Germany is a key market, it must be fairly significant.
The acquisition price offered for CVS Ferrari by Cargotec is thought to be close to the Italian company's net sales for 2006 (Euros 85M).
