Military and commercial vehicle maker Oshkosh Truck is buying JLG Industries, a maker of aerial work platforms and booms, for about $3bn cash.
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Oshkosh chairman, president and CEO Robert G. Bohn told The Associated Press (AP) the deal continues Oshkosh’s transformation into a global specialty vehicle maker.
“We will have the size and the scale to be more competitive in the market, and we will be generating a significant amount of cash, cash that we will use to rapidly pay down our debt,” Bohn reportedly said in a conference call.
The deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies but still requires approval from JLG shareholders and antitrust regulators, is expected to close in early December, the report said.
The company reportedly agreed to pay $28 per share for JLG, a 35% premium over the stock’s Friday closing price of $20.75. According to the New York Stock Exchange, JLG has 106.7 million shares outstanding. Oshkosh will also assume more than $200 million in JLG debt as part of the deal.
AP said Oshkosh, which plans to finance the purchase with a $3.5 billion line of credit from Bank of America, expects the deal to add “modestly” to per-share earnings in fiscal 2007.
JLG, based in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, had $2.3bn in revenues this fiscal year, with sales estimated to grow between 20 and 25% next year, Oshkosh reportedly said. The company is the top provider of aerial platforms in North America and Europe.
Oshkosh already has 9,400 employees and will be adding JLG’s 4,000, the report said. JLG, which makes the Manlift and Toucan brands of aerial work platforms and Caterpillar-branded telehandlers, has manufacturing plants in the US, Belgium and France.
