Godfried Heydenrych

Southern African Hyster dealer Barloworld Handling has started trading as BHBW (Pty) Ltd following approval by competition authorities of the joint venture partnership between Barloworld Limited and German trading group BayWa AG.

The joint venture came into effect on 1 March 2017.

Late last year, Barloworld and BayWa announced that they had signed an agreement to establish a joint venture to further their materials handling and agriculture operations in Southern Africa. Barloworld South Africa and BayWa each have a 50% stake in BHBW, which will build on Barloworld's Handling and Agriculture businesses in the region. 

"Barloworld Handling was the exclusive Southern African distributor of Hyster forklifts and warehousing equipment since 1929, and had established itself as a leading supplier of materials handling equipment and solutions to the local market. In cooperation with BayWa and our principal, Hyster-Yale Company, we look forward to continue expanding these solutions and our footprint," says Godfried Heydenrych, Barloworld Handling's chief executive, who continues as chief executive of the new JV. 

The company's Hyster line-up, which ranges from warehousing equipment to reachstackers lifting up to 52 T, was recently expanded to include the long-awaited 'back to basics' Hyster XT series of counterbalance lift trucks, while the UTILEV range of utility lift trucks for low-hour applications has also found great favour in the local market. 

"As BHBW, we will continue our focus to provide solutions tailored to Southern African conditions, and to our customers' widely differing operational and cost-of-operation requirements," says Heydenrych. "From an operational point of view, it will be a seamless transition with no impact on our customers in terms of service delivery."

The joint venture partnership has the approval of Hyster and UTILEV principal Hyster-Yale Company. 

The Barloworld Handling management team has remained in place, as have staff and the existing countrywide branch infrastructure. BHBW continues to operate from Barloworld's premises in Boksburg, Gauteng.