Kubota announces agreement with intention to acquire the Mower Business Division of Italian manufacturer Officine BIEFFEBI and its subsidiary Gianni Ferrari s.r.l.

Kubota Corporation intends to merge the lawn-mower business division of Italian manufacturer Officine BIEFFEBI (BFB) and its subsidiary Gianni Ferrari (GF) into a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Kubota Holdings B.V., Kubota’s European subsidiary for its agricultural industrial machinery business.

The creation of this new subsidiary, which will be called Kubota Gianni Ferrari S.R.L., will expand Kubota’s range of Groundcare products, aimed at professionals in sectors such as parks, stadiums and landscaping for individual customers. By integrating these new resources into its sales, production and development processes, Kubota Holdings Europe will speed up the expansion of this business line in Europe.

Officine BIEFFEBI and Gianni Ferrari have an excellent reputation and large market share in Europe as pioneers in centre collect front mowers (CCFM), a segment of medium to large high-end professional mowers for which demand has been growing steadily in recent years. In particular, both companies enjoy great popularity as CCFM pioneers in Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, among other Western European countries.

That is why Kubota has chosen BFB and GF as the best partners to strengthen and complement Kubota’s lawn equipment business in Europe. The two acquired companies and Kubota have their own competitive advantages and product ranges in the different markets. This allows their offerings to complement each other perfectly, making this commercial partnership the optimal choice to take this line of business forward in the future.

Although Kubota’s lawn-mower division in Europe had been showing solid growth in the professional and high-end consumer segment thanks to its products’ superior resistance and operating capacity, the new company, Kubota Gianni Ferrari S.R.L., will have even vaster capabilities to develop and manufacture lawn equipment in Europe, including the highly-demanded CCFM. Kubota’s CCFM segment will thus also receive a major boost and will have the company’s sales and dealer support network at its disposal.

The closing of this transaction is subject to the completion of the condition precedents including the obtainment of the Golden Power clearance. (The Golden Power is the special power of the Italian government to limit or stop foreign direct investments (“FDI”) and corporate transactions involving Italian strategic assets).