(L-R at the desk) Sergey Markin, Jens Menneke and Christophe Lautray

Linde Material Handling GmbH wants to acquire the business of its Russian dealership, Liftec, as part of its plans to expand its Russian and central Asian sales and service networks.

Linde Material Handling CEO Theodor Maurer says Linde has been working with Liftec for about 20 years. "The take-over will give the Linde brand better, more direct, access to the growth potential in the Russian market. This will give Linde its own sales and service structure in the future."

Liftec, which has been exclusively responsible for selling and supporting Linde products in Russia, currently employs about 180 people. Over the next few years, Linde wants to develop the sales and service team to boost customer support.

Christophe Lautray, Linde Material Handling sales managing director, explained the status of the deal with Liftec at CeMAT Russia last week: "Negotiations are largely complete and we have outlined a master agreement with the owners of Liftec." The agreement will be finalised once the contract has been signed and approved by Russian anti-trust authorities.

"We see real growth potential for Linde in the Russian and central Asian markets, and we want to leverage this by introducing products and services specially tailored to the needs of these markets," Lautray explains.

According to Linde's market intelligence, Russia has the fifth-largest forklift market in Europe, with over 12,000 new vehicles sold in the first six months of 2011. Demand has doubled compared to the same period last year due to the growing Russian economy.

"Linde will also be working harder to tap into the markets in the Ukraine and Kazakhstan, which will involve taking over operations at two [other] Linde divisions," says Jens Menneke, area manager of Eastern Europe, who will work with the future management team of Sergey Markin in sales and Elena Tolkacheva in finance to achieve Linde's global strategic goals.

Linde is focusing not only on warehouse trucks for the Eastern European market, but also on internal combustion counterbalance trucks and electric drives, as well as heavy-duty trucks and container-handling machines.

Menneke says none of Linde's competitors has the same bandwidth when it comes to a product offering and boasts that Linde sets the benchmark in nearly all product segments for performance and economy.

"At the same time, the aim is to produce special service and finance packages to make it easier for customers to opt for Linde products," he says.

Linde Material Handling GmbH, headquartered in Aschaffenburg, Germany, is part of the KION Group, the market leader for forklifts in Europe. Linde Material Handling employs around 12,500 people worldwide.