Comer Industries entered an agreement for the acquisition of 100% of Walterscheid Powertrain Group

• Walterscheid Powertrain Group has announced that they have entered an agreement whereby Comer Industries – a leading maker of mower beds – will acquire 100% of Walterscheid
• The agreement will create a formidable new presence in the agricultural manufacturing industry
• The product ranges of the two companies complement each other well

Comer was founded by the Storchi family in 1970.  It has agreed to purchase the Walterscheid group from One Equity Partners (OEP), a New York-based private equity firm.

The combined turnover of the two companies in 2020 was €792 million with Comer being the slightly smaller company.

But, it is not a direct buyout as OEP will retain a “significant minority shareholding” in the new company.

The Italian company also manufactures gearboxes, driven hubs and planetary drives.

Walterscheid, specialises in transmitting power with its PTO (power take-off) shafts being popular with original equipment manufacturers and the aftersales market.

There will still be a great deal of product overlap so it will be interesting to see if there will be any significant consolidation of the product range.

It has not been revealed just how large OEP’s retained shareholding in the new group is, but its managing director, Joseph Huffsmith, appears keen to talk up the future prospects for a company he claims to have just sold.

Walterschied’s CEO, Wolfgang Lemser says he is delighted that OEP will remain as an investor in the business.

Although the deal is presented as a buyout of Walterscheid by Comer, it does appear to be more of a merger, with an American equity company brokering the transaction, increasing its own involvement in what it believes to be growth industries, while doing so.