The Porto, Portugal-based Nors Group has acquired Canadian equipment distributor Strongco for CAD $3.15 per share in cash, or about $42.1 million. The Strongco shares are expected to be de-listed from the Canadian stock exchange by the end of day today. Strongco is expected to carry on its existing business activities as an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Nors. Nors is a multi-line distributor of equipment used in diverse industries, including commercial, construction, environmental, and agriculture.
Strongco is a distributor of multiple lines of equipment and sells, rents and services equipment used in diverse sectors such as construction, infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, utilities, municipalities, waste management and forestry. It has approximately 500 employees serving customers from 26 branches in Canada. Strongco represents leading equipment manufacturers with globally recognized brands, including Volvo Construction Equipment, Case Construction, Manitowoc Crane, including National and Grove, Terex Cedarapids, Terex Trucks, Fassi, Sennebogen, Konecranes and SDLG.
Nors is taking over locations in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Nors has almost 90 years of experience in the construction industry and operations in 16 countries including the United States and Mexico under its jointly owned company Ascendum Machinery.
“We believe that Strongco will benefit from Nors’ global presence and brand recognition, and from its long experience in the automotive and construction equipment industry to further enhance its superior performance and future growth,” said Tomás Jervell, CEO of Nors. “And we are very much looking forward to working with Volvo CE across Canada. We plan on investing heavily in staff expertise, as well as improving parts availability. The goal is to provide the highest uptime in the industry to Volvo CE customers, and we are ready to achieve it.”
Nors is a family-owned company founded in 1933 by Luís Óscar Jervell, the current CEO’s grandfather. It has 3,600 employees and represents numerous heavy equipment manufacturers, including Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Trucks, Sennebogen, Volvo Bus, Volvo Penta, Renault Trucks, UD Trucks, DongFeng Trucks, SDLG, Grove, Epiroc, Sandvik, Case IH, Kohler-SDMO, Yale and Hyster. It began as a Volvo Group partner in Portugal, selling and servicing trucks and buses, and in 1970 it started selling Volvo Construction Equipment products.
The U.S. $2 billion company began its global expansion in the 1990s, entering the African market, then North and South America. Nors operates dealerships under the Nors Group, as well as through joint ownership of the Ascendum Group, which is one of the largest distributors of Volvo CE in the world.
“It’s fantastic to have such a seasoned partner expanding its successful operations and business model further across North America, and we are looking forward to the improvements they will bring to Canada,” said Stephen Roy, senior vice president, Volvo CE North America. “Together we will enhance our Canadian sales and service efforts to improve the experience of our customers when working with Volvo CE. This new partnership has enormous potential.”
“As Strongco moves to enhance its product and service offerings in Canada we are pleased to become part of the Nors Group,” said Robert Beutel, executive chairman of Strongco when the agreement was originally announced. “Nors’ international experience and capital foundation, in many of the same product lines on four continents, brings the know-how and experience to elevate our potential to deliver leading edge quality to our growing customer base in an increasingly global environment.”
Strongco is also a significant player in rental and is No. 89 on the RER 100. Strongco is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
