Doosan Bobcat signed an agreement to buy the ZTR Mower business from Schiller Ground Care, a U.S. landscape equipment company on Dec. 2.
Subjects to the acquisition are three brands, Bob-CAT, Steiner and Ryan, with the deal expected to be $82 million. Both companies plan to wrap up the closing of the deal by the end of this year.
ZTR Mower (Zero-turn Mower) is a device that performs landscaping work such as weeding and is highly efficient by applying zero-turn method (zero-degree turn radius).
As of last year, the North American market for ZTR Mower was about 810,000 units worth $4.8 billion. It has been showing stable growth in sales over the past five years, with the number of sales rising 7.8 percent annually.
Based on its high brand recognition and dealer capabilities, Doosan Bobcat aims to secure early settlement in the landscape equipment market. Once the transfer of the ZTR Mower business is completed, the company is expected to secure both products and sales networks at the same time, accelerating the expansion of its agricultural and landscape businesses along with its recently released compact tractors.
In particular, the company plans to expand its dealer network in the southern and western regions of the U.S., where demand for the two products is high, and expand sales of existing products.
"Mower is a must-have product line for strengthening competitiveness in landscape and agriculture, and this acquisition will serve as an opportunity to speed up expansion of business areas in North America," said CEO Scott Sung-chul of Doosan Bobcat.
"We will focus our capabilities to maximize sales synergies with existing businesses by rapidly expanding our business into adjacent markets through secured products and sales channels," he added.
