Altor Fund III (“Altor”), Fort Knox Förvaring AB and Management Investors have today signed an agreement to divest Ålö Holding AB (“Ålö”), a world leader within material handling solutions in the agricultural industry to JOST Werke AG (“JOST”). JOST is a world leading supplier of systems to the Truck and Trailer Industry.
Ålö is a global market leader in top-quality front loaders and associated implements for agricultural tractors, with sales in more than 40 countries. Front loaders and implements are sold under the Quicke brand as well as in cooperation with tractor OEMs. The company has production facilities in Sweden, US, China and France.
“We are pleased to have found an excellent new home for Ålö” says Bengt Maunsbach, Partner at Altor Equity Partners. “JOST has strong capabilities to support Ålö in developing its many important OEM relationships and a global manufacturing footprint that will both open up new markets and provide economies of scale”.
“Ålö stands stronger than ever today” says Niklas Åström, CEO of Ålö. “We have during the past years developed and launched breakthrough new products such as the Q-Series premium loader and the Q-Companion digital control system. Together with our leading offer of implements, parts and service this has enabled Ålö to grow with both our OEM partners and in the dealer market”.
“We are delighted to bring Ålö into our portfolio of leading industrial brands” says Joachim Dürr, CEO of JOST. “We look forward to work with Ålö’s strong management team and to help Ålö continue to grow”.
The transaction is conditioned upon merger control approval and is expected to be finalized early 2020. The sellers were advised by Alantra, Swedbank Investment Banking, White & Case and EY.