Tailift's plant in Shandong province.

Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the forklift business of Tailift Co., Ltd, which is active in the manufacturing and sales of industrial machine tools and forklifts mainly in Taiwan and China.

The agreement was announced by TICO president Akira Onishi.

The acquisition firms up Toyota's position as the largest forklift manufacturer in the world, with revenues last year of around USD6.88 billion.

The forklift division of Tailift has manufacturing plants in Taiwan and China and has its strength in developing, manufacturing and selling forklifts that are mainly targeted towards emerging markets.

Headquartered in Taichung, Taiwan, Tailift produces IC and electric forklifts as well as sheet metal equipment such as laser cutting machines and other industrial machine tools.

With around 1,000 employees at the end of last year, the Tailift production facilities have a capacity of around 28,000 units per year.

According to a Tailift statement, the acquisition will involve only the forklift division, which will be spun off.

The new entity will be jointly operated.

"The operation and management of the new entity will still follow the operation and management to be directed by the Lin family," says the statement.

Tailift chairman Lin Xi-wen will continuously lead and manage the new forklift business until 2020, when chairman Lin Xi-wen will reach the expected retirement age of 70 years old. "Thereafter, the operation and management of the business may be passed to (the) second generation, continuing the close co-operation with TICO in the operation of the business," the statement adds.