Caterpillar Inc. and Hewitt Equipment Ltd. announce that Caterpillar Global Mining LLC and Hewitt Equipment Ltd. have signed an agreement for Hewitt and its subsidiary, Atlantic Tractors & Equipment Ltd., to acquire the Bucyrus equipment distribution and support business in the province of Quebec, Western Labrador and the Maritimes.
"Cat dealers play a pivotal role in helping us build and maintain our world-class system of distribution and product support. This is critical to providing value and solutions for Caterpillar mining customers, and Hewitt will be helping us achieve that," says Steve Wunning, Caterpillar group president with responsibility for Resource Industries.
"We are very enthusiastic about this agreement, under which we will provide an even broader product offering to our valued mining customers," says Jim Hewitt, president and CEO of Hewitt. "We look forward to collaborating with Caterpillar and with our customers as we work together to build on the existing Bucyrus support resources in our service territory. We are already making significant investments in facilities and in training to further strengthen that support capability. Further, as the transition takes place, we will be investing heavily in parts and component inventories to help ensure our customers attain optimal availability of their Cat and Bucyrus equipment. We also look forward to welcoming the former Bucyrus Employees who will be joining the Hewitt Team."
Subject to customary closing conditions, it is anticipated that the transaction will close on August 1.
Caterpillar has announced similar transactions with other dealers over the last several months. Caterpillar continues to hold discussions with other Cat dealers that have mining activity in their territories and will continue to operate the former Bucyrus distribution business until the transitions have occurred in a given territory.
