Atlet trucks working at Donald Murray Paper's warehouse in Glasgow, Scotland.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd is buying Atlet AB after its European subsidiary finalised an agreement with the Swedish warehousing forklift specialist yesterday.

Both companies praised each other as suitable partners for expansion in the forklift industry.

Nissan Motor's corporate vice president, Toshio Aoki, is confident Atlet will boost Nissan's position in the global forklift industry through its warehouse forklifts that complement Nissan's mainly counterbalanced range.

"Atlet is the ideal partner for us to reinforce our position as a major player in the global material handling market, thanks to their high quality products which complement our existing product line-up."

Nissan's main forklift products are its engine and electric counterbalanced forklifts.

The Japanese manufacturer has had an OEM agreement since 2002 for Atlet to manufacture Nissan Forklift warehouse forklifts for selected European markets.

Atlet AB CEO Marianne Brismar says Atlet will benefit from Nissan's forklift markets.
"Not only will we have the opportunity to strengthen our product range under our existing brand name, but we will also be able to expand into new markets."

Nissan's key markets are US, Europe and Japan while Atlet has a strong European presence.

Atlet founder Knut Jacobsson says the acquisition opens the possibility of an "exciting and rewarding" future for its nearly 1,000 employees.

"With no natural family succession, we wanted to find an industrial partner to allow us long-term development and to strengthen the Atlet brand," he says.

Atlet was established 49 years ago by Jacobsson and has been owned by the family until now.

The combined companies will produce over 36,500 units a year globally and have an annual turnover of EUR858 million (USD1.165 billion). Both brands and sales networks will operate separately.

They will exchange technology and manufacturing know-how, and cost savings are expected to result from joint purchasing activities.

The acquisition is pending approval by the EU Commission and is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.

Brismar will be replaced by a new CEO when the acquisition finalises. She will remain at Atlet as a special advisor.

Atlet, headquartered in Mölnlycke, Sweden, started producing warehouse materials handling equipment in 1958. Its annual sales is EUR182 million (USD247.2 million) and production output is 6,500 units.

Nissan Forklift Europe BV is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co Ltd, and is part of Nissan Motor's industrial machinery division. The division is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. With production facilities in Japan, US and Spain, Nissan started forklift production in 1957. Its annual sales is about EUR676 million (USD918.1 million). It employs about 1,400 people and produces 30,000 units annually.