Trelleborg Wheel Systems has signed an agreement to acquire the industrial tyre business of Pircher Alfred sas, an Italian tyre distribution and service specialist.
The acquisition price is confidential.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems Industrial Tires president Jean-Paul Mindermann says the acquisition sits perfectly with the company's strategy to deliver an integrated, end-to-end approach for its global OEM partners, and gives it a leading service presence in Europe's four largest forklift markets - Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
"Recognising that our global OEM partners are increasingly looking towards aftermarket parts and service as a key source of revenue, over the past three years, we have set out to strengthen our service capability across Europe.
"We have invested in creating Interfit, the industry-leading service concept, specifically to meet the aftermarket service requirements of the leading global OEM forklift producers, and this acquisition is another important step for us."
Pircher Alfred has been a principal long-term distributor of Trelleborg tyres in Italy.
Mindermann says he believes Trelleborg's overall service proposition will be "significantly strengthened" with the formal addition of Pircher Alfred to the company's European service and distribution network.
Elio Bartoli, Trelleborg Wheel Systems Industrial Tires European managing director, says customers in both Italy and Europe will benefit from the acquisition.
"In Italy, customers will continue to receive the highest quality products and service, while at a European level, we are now positioned to deliver a seamless service across all key markets.
"In the three years since we launched the Interfit service concept in Europe, we have added significant value to our customers' regional aftermarket business streams through local service delivery. We are very pleased to extend this offering."
The acquisition and integration is expected to finalise in the first quarter of 2014.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems, which is part of the Trelleborg Group, supplies tyres and wheel systems for forklifts, agricultural and forest machinery and other materials handling vehicles. In 2012, it employed 2,391 employees, had six factories worldwide and recorded annual sales of EUR443 million (USD601 million).
In 2012, Trelleborg Wheel Systems acquired Maine Industrial Tire, a US-based market leader specialising in solid tyres for vehicles, which has 635 employees and two factories.
Separately, Trelleborg has received the Machine of the Year Award 2014 for its new ProgressiveTraction technology. The ceremony was held at the AGRITECHNICA 2013 agricultural expo in Hannover, Germany on 12 November.
R&D director Piero Mancinelli says ProgressiveTraction technology resulted from two years of intensive numeric simulations and indoor and outdoor testing. It is designed to improve farming efficiency thanks to a double lug. The double lug progressively releases higher traction when required as machinery operates on the soil at different times.