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Forklift truck maker Kion seeks acquisitions

转载 2008-04-12 00:00 Source:feuters

FRANKFURT, April 6 (Reuters) - Kion, the world's second-biggest maker of fork lift trucks, is looking for peers to acquire to strengthen its business in the mid- to low-end market, chief executive-designate Gordon Riske said.

He told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Kion, which KKR and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) bought from Linde (LING.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) for 4 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in 2006, wanted to overtake Toyota (6201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) to become the world's number one.

Kion made sales of 4.6 billion euros last year with its two premium brands, Linde and Still, and low-cost brand OM.

"We want to buy above all in the middle and lower price brackets, where we are represented with OM," Riske said in the interview published on Sunday.

Riske said Kion, which was acquired in a leveraged buyout, was ahead of plan in its debt redemption, and said KKR and Goldman would be ready to make acquisitions, given the right opportunity.

He reiterated that the German company wanted to expand in Asia and the United States and planned to keep at least three brands to address different price segments. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Paul Bolding)

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