MH Logistics Corp, trading as MH Equipment Co, has added to its Hyster territory in acquiring a majority of the assets of Shipping Utilities Inc. Terms were not disclosed.

MH Equipment hired 34 parts, sales and service personnel including 13 technicians in assuming responsibility on 8 October for two Shipping Utilities forklift facilities in St Louis and Scott City near Cape Girardeau in Missouri.

"MH Equipment is very excited to move into St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas," says John Wieland, chief executive officer. "Our company is based on three principles: that people matter, passion inspires and purpose unites."

Representatives for Chillicothe-based MH Equipment and Shipping Utilities of St Louis began talks about five months ago, according to Brad Barrow, MH Equipment chief financial officer.

In covering Hyster territory on both sides of the Mississippi River, the St Louis branch is responsible for 32 counties in Illinois and 24 in Missouri, and the Scott City branch has 13 counties in Missouri and 11 in Illinois.

MH Equipment employs about 550 staff and has 26 materials handling locations in nine states. The dealership has five branches each in Iowa and Illinois, four each in Kentucky and Ohio, two each in Indiana, Nebraska and Missouri and one each in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Separately, an industrial products and services branch is located in Eldridge, Iowa.

In addition to representing Hyster in all materials handling locations, MH Equipment in various branches also stocks Rico, Flexi and Mariotti brand forklifts, JCB brand construction machines, Genie brand aerial lift equipment, PowerBoss sweepers and scrubbers and Rail King rail car movers.

MH Equipment started in Peoria, Illinois in 1952 as a Hyster dealership. Wieland purchased the company in 1994.

In August, MH Equipment added independent Genesis Industrial Service in Indianapolis, Indiana and independent Tri-State Lift Trucks in Sioux City, Iowa, says Dannelle Dahlhauser, MH Equipment general marketing manager. In a 2006 transaction, MH Equipment acquired Hyster forklift territory for western Iowa and Nebraska from RDO Equipment Co of Fargo, North Dakota.