Buhler a step closer to goal

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This article was published 08/02/2011 (5714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Buhler Industries Inc. has added another key piece of the puzzle in its ongoing bid to become a one-stop shop for agriculture equipment.

The Winnipeg-based manufacturer announced Monday it has acquired Ezee-On Manufacturing, an Alberta maker of precision seeding and tilling equipment, for $14.5 million.

“We have not been shy about the fact we’d like to become a full-line farm equipment manufacturer,” Buhler marketing manager Adam Reid said in an interview. “We now have the third piece of that puzzle. Their product line will fill in a part of our portfolio in which we have been lacking.”

With the acquisition of Ezee-On, the company now makes tractors, crop sprayers and seeding and tilling equipment. The only thing missing is combines, and Reid said Buhler hopes to add that piece within five years.

He noted Rostselmash Ltd., the Russian company that acquired an 80 per cent share of Buhler in 2007, manufacturers combines, so company officials are looking into the feasibility of either shipping Rostselmash’s combines to North America or sending the components here for assembly.

“I would say that within the next five years you will see that (one or the other),” Reid said.

Ezee-On is Buhler’s third acquisition in two years. In 2009, it bought the assets of Minnesota-based Redball LLC, which makes self-propelled and pull-type sprayers. Last year, it purchased a South Dakota grain-auger manufacturer, Feteri Manufacturing Corp.

As well, Buhler entered a strategic partnership with Winnipeg-based Westeel Storage Solutions last year that sees it marketing Westeel’s steel grain storage bins and other products through its U.S. dealer network.

Reid said acquisitions and strategic alliances are two ways the company can continue to expand its sales and manufacturing operations. Although it doesn’t have further deals in the works, company officials continue to keep an eye out for expansion opportunities, he said.

He said Buhler looked at about 10 companies in Canada and the United States before making a pitch for Ezee-On, which was owned by TerraVest Income Fund.

“This company fit within the parameters of what we were looking for in terms of manufacturing space and products,” he said.

In addition to a manufacturing plant in Vegreville, Alta., Ezee-On has a warehouse/distribution centre in Billings, Mont. Reid said Buhler may be able to use that facility to distribute some of its other products in the U.S.

As well, it will look at ways to further improve Ezee-On’s products and develop new ones that can be produced at the Alberta plant.

TerraVest, which has investments in four businesses apart from Ezee-On, said Monday it received a $7.25-million payment from Buhler on Friday, and will receive a further $7.25 million by March 31.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca