Doosan Bobcat looks to acquire Germany’s Wacker Neuson

The Wacker Neuson EZ26e excavator. (Photo: Wacker Neuson)

In a press release Wacker Neuson said, “Doosan Bobcat is considering acquiring shares amounting to approximately 63% of Wacker Neuson’s share capital from major shareholders and launching a public takeover offer in the form of an all-cash offer to all remaining Wacker Neuson shareholders.”

Wacker said that it cannot predict whether the sale of shares by the major shareholders or a public takeover offer will actually take place and that it will inform the capital markets and the public of any further developments in accordance with legal requirements.

On International Construction’s Yellow Table, a ranking of the world’s biggest construction OEMs by sales, Doosan Bobcat was ranked in 11th position and Wacker Neuson was in 26th.

If the deal takes place then it would strengthen Doosan Bobcat’s position in Europe.

“We believe the merger of Bobcat and Wacker Neuson would generally be acceptable from an anti-trust point of view. The combined entity would have a market share of under 30% – the normal threshold where market dominance becomes a concern – in products such as mini excavators and compact wheeled loaders,” commented Off-Highway Research managing director, Chris Sleight. 

“In some territories Bobcat already has a share of more than 30% in skid-steer loaders, but the addition of Wacker Neuson would not change this much from the status quo.”

Sleight added that a key point was around product strategy and distribution, with both Bobcat and Wacker Neuson being compact equipment specialists with cross-over in their ranges and a presence in many of the same markets.