Konecranes acquired Gruas Koman Limitada, its former licensee in Recoleta, Santiago, Chile early this month.

The acquisition also includes the Peruvian start-up subsidiary, Koman Gruas Peru SRL. The companies specialise in providing advanced overhead lifting solutions and maintenance services in Chile, Peru and Bolivia.

Tom Sothard, senior vice president and head of Konecranes Region Americas, says South America holds a great potential for the future growth of the company. "Gruas Koman is, via its installed base of equipment, an excellent base for building our service, parts and equipment business in South America."

Gruas Koman has an installed based of almost 500 cranes, a majority of these built on Konecranes' technology. In 2009, the company's net sales totaled about EUR7 million (USD9.4 million).

The value of the acquisition is not disclosed.

Gruas Koman has been a Konecranes licensee for standard duty cranes since the early 1990s. The company has almost 60 full-time employees, half of whom are crane technicians. The company has an established crane maintenance business in Santiago, Antofagasta, Calama and other areas of Chile's mining districts.

Konecranes says the acquisition is an opportunity for the company to further consolidate and ultimately expand its reach into the overhead lifting equipment market in the region. Before, the company served the market via its fully owned subsidiary that originated from the Morris Material Handling acquisition in 2006 (Forkliftaction.com News #265).

The acquisition is not expected to impact on Konecranes' financial results in 2011.