The global site of the UK's leading magazine for automation, motion engineering and power transmission
29 March, 2024

LinkedIn
Twitter
Twitter link

Rexroth buys Hägglunds to gain large radial piston motors

25 July, 2008

Bosch Rexroth is buying the Swedish hydraulic drives supplier, Hägglunds Drives, for about SKr4.3bn ($705m) from the Swedish private equity company, Ratos, which has had a stake in Hägglunds since 2001, and has been its sole owner since 2004.

Hagglunds HQ

Hägglunds produces hydraulic drive systems for high-torque, variable-speed applications, as well as offering separate drive motors and services. It employs around 900 people and its sales last year were worth around €200m. Its headquarters and main production site are in the Swedish city of Mellansel (shown above), and it also has US production sites in Texas and Ohio.

Bosch Rexroth already supplies a wide range of hydraulic equipment for industrial and mobile applications, but only offers radial piston motors – Hägglunds’ main product – for mobile applications, such as small construction machinery.

"The acquisition of Hägglunds Drives expands our industrial hydraulics portfolio and by this we gain new potential in growing markets, such as renewable energy, mining and materials handling," explains Dr Albert Hieronimus, chairman of Bosch Rexroth’s board.

Mining and bulk materials handling represent almost a quarter (24%) of Hägglunds’ revenue, followed by marine and offshore (16%), pulp and paper (16%), and sugar (14%). In the renewable energy sector, Hägglunds’ products are used in ethanol-producing machines as well as in prototype tidal power generators.

About two thirds of Hägglunds’ sales are to OEMs and one third to end-users. Exports represent more than 90% of its business, with Asia-Pacific being its largest regional market, accounting for 30% of its revenue, followed by North America (23%), the Nordic countries (21%) and the rest of Europe (20%).

"Together with Bosch Rexroth, we will be able to further develop our focus on offering complete hydraulic drive systems in several of our existing segments," says Hägglunds Drives’ chief executive, Per Nordgren. "We will also be able to offer our deliveries of complete hydraulic drive systems to new interesting segments such as renewable energy production. Combined with Bosch Rexroth’s strong position on specific markets where we’re not represented today, we will have a good position for continued strong growth."




Magazine
  • To view a digital copy of the latest issue of Drives & Controls, click here.

    To visit the digital library of past issues, click here

    To subscribe to the magazine, click here

     

Poll

"Do you think that robots create or destroy jobs?"

Newsletter
Newsletter

Events

Most Read Articles