The employees of Clark Material Handling Europe (CMHE) have rejected a buyout offer from Clark Material Handling Company (CMHC) and plunged the company into terminal insolvency.

CMHE entered receivership when Young An Hat Company of Korea bought CMHC on January 31, bringing it out of US Chapter 11 bankruptcy. A similar buyout plan was formulated for CMHE, but the plan was rejected on April 1. Other bids, including one rumoured to be from a large US materials handling player, were nullified by the employee decision.

CMHC chief executive Kevin Reardon said CMHC's plan, in accordance with European Union corporate laws, would have seen CMHE employees placed in a "transfer company", with six months' guaranteed pay, and moved to a revived Clark Europe as needed.

Those employees not transferred to the new entity after six months would be paid another six months' severance pay and released. Mr Reardon said the employees' rejection of the plan meant many would be out of work immediately.

The options were explained to employees on March 28, and votes on the options were required by March 31.

"This is a very disappointing result for us. To do the deal as planned, we needed the support of the majority of the workforce, but we didn't achieve that, and now secondary plans need to be initiated," Mr Reardon said.

CMHC would now establish a sales office in nearby Ratigen, where temporary offices have been operating since the receivership on January 31. That office would be transferred to "more permanent" offices and launched as Clark Europe GmbH on April 14.

"The perfect outcome would have been to retain the existing workforce and facility and keep turning out trucks for our dealers and customers. We did everything possible to achieve this, but unfortunately we failed," Mr Reardon said.

He assured Forkliftaction.com News that dealers would still be supported, and would hardly notice any changes. Forklifts and spare parts built in Korea would now supply the European market, meaning a lag of three weeks' shipping for dealers.

Clark Europe would build a research & development facility in Germany before year-end, but a decision on whether the company would build another manufacturing facility in Mulheim had not been made.

"If a manufacturing facility is built, it will most definitely be in Germany, it's an important strategic location for us, and it would be great if it was in Mulheim, as we have all that local expertise to draw on," Mr Reardon said.