TTI To Buy Milwaukee Tool

Sept. 10, 2004
Looking to boost its presence in the U.S. and European electric tool markets, Hong Kong’s Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. (TTI) announced plans to buy the electric power tool and accessories business of Sweden’s Atlas Copco AB.

Looking to boost its presence in the U.S. and European electric tool markets, Hong Kong’s Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. (TTI) announced plans to buy the electric power tool and accessories business of Sweden’s Atlas Copco AB.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory clearances and customary closing conditions, is expected to close prior to the end of 2004.

Atlas Copco’s electrical tools group includes Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp., a Brookfield, Wis.-based maker of drills, impact wrenches and saws, and AEG Tools of Germany.

According to a Dow Jones article, TTI officials said in a conference call last week that the deal would raise TTI’s share of the power tools market in the United States to 40 percent from the current 25 percent. They also added that the deal would boost the company’s share of the power tools market in Europe to between 15 percent and 20 percent from the current 5 percent.

With 2003 sales of $1.69 billion and 16,300 employees, TTI manufactures and supplies home improvement and floor care products. TTI provides contract Original Equipment Manufacturing and Original Design Manufacturing (OEM/ODM) for major private labels in the home improvement industry. The company’s principal areas of business are power tools, outdoor power equipment, floor care appliances, solar powered, laser and electronic measuring products. TTI sells power tools at retailer Home Depot under the Ridgid and Ryobi brand names.

“We are pleased to add the Milwaukee and AEG brands of power tools and DreBo carbide drill bits to our growing family of global brands,” said Horst J. Pudwill, TTI’s chairman and CEO. “With their 80-year history, Milwaukee is one of the most widely respected brands in the professional contractor market segment and in Europe, AEG brings an additional highly respected band to our portfolio. This acquisition takes advantage of our marketing and distribution networks and enhances our reach into the industrial/construction channel and power tool accessory market.”

Milwaukee Tools, headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., is also home to research, new product development, manufacturing support, marketing, sales and information systems. It has production facilities in Greenwood, Jackson and Kosciusko, Miss.; Blytheville, Ark.; Brookfield, Wis., and Matamoros, Mexico. Milwaukee’s products are also manufactured in facilities in Europe and throughout the world.

In 1995, Atlas Copco, a global industrial company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, acquired Milwaukee Electric Tool.

In 2001, the Milwaukee brand was launched in Australia by Milwaukee’s sister company Atlas Copco Electric Tools, located in Winnenden, Germany, and was relaunched in Europe and the rest of the world in 2002. The company employs over 2,000 people serving customers globally.

The proposed acquisition comes just weeks after Black & Decker Corp. announced plans to buy Porter-Cable and other brands from Pentair Inc., one of a series of deals now reshaping the tool market in the United States and around the globe.