Briggs International announced that its subsidiary, Briggs Equipment, has executed a letter of interest to acquire a portion of Barloworld Handling’s assets. With this acquisition, Hyster Co. will appoint Briggs as an authorized dealer for the sales and service of Hyster brand lift trucks in a portion of Barloworld’s territory.
Briggs says Barloworld Handling has accepted its letter of interest and it is conducting due diligence of Barloworld’s U.S. materials handling operations. Completing the transaction is subject to execution of a definitive and binding agreement.
Briggs says the transaction would position it as one of the largest Hyster dealers in the United States, with responsibility for a large portion of the southern United States. Briggs will sell and service Hyster brand lift trucks in Florida, Arkansas and Atlanta, and portions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. Briggs will assume dealer responsibilities in these territories.
Briggs is currently one of the largest dealers of Yale brand lift trucks, with branches servicing Yale products and customers in portions of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Briggs International subsidiaries also are the Yale dealers for the United Kingdom and the Hyster and Yale dealer for most of Mexico. Both Hyster Company and Yale Materials Handling Corporation are operating divisions of Nacco Materials Handling Group.
“Briggs is excited by the potential to expand both its footprint and product offering in the United States with the addition of the Hyster brand,” says Dave Bratton, chief executive officer of Sammons Enterprises. “The growth of our materials handing business brings more opportunities to our employees and better service to our customers. This acquisition provides our customers with more product options and quicker response times.”
“We are confident Hyster products – combined with Briggs Equipment sales, service and material handling expertise – will deliver excellent customer satisfaction,” says Jonathan Dawley, president of Hyster Distribution. “We look forward to continuing our deep relationships with current Hyster customers, as well as developing a solid relationship with new customers through Briggs’ efforts.”
