Hitachi and Sumitomo to Form a New Joint Venture Company of Construction Cranes

22 Apr, 2002

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Co., Ltd.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (President Yoshio Hinoh, “Sumitomo” ) and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (President Ryuuichi Seguchi, “Hitachi” ) have agreed to form a new joint venture company integrating all business relating to sales, R & D, production, and servicing and customers support activities, etc. of both partners’ construction crane business, primarily crawler cranes.

The integration of the crane business of Hitachi and Sumitomo enables this alliance to put single brand/single channel distribution strategy into place and reduce the production cost considerably. By doing so, both parties aim at achieving No. 1 position in the global crawler crane market. In Americas, Link-Belt Construction Equipment Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo will continue to distribute crawler cranes made by Sumitomo under Link-Belt brand as currently done. In other international market Hitachi and Sumitomo are working with objective of distributing crawler cranes under new brand by leveraging the strengths of the respective networks of both parties.

In May 2001 Sumitomo, Hitachi and Tadano, Ltd. ( “Tadano” ) agreed the strategic business collaboration among the three relating to construction crane business. Based on that agreement, the partners have launched into the initial step of collaboration by establishing the R & D Center within the premises of Hitachi Tsuchiura Factory last October to start the joint development of the common platform models of crawler cranes.

As the joint venture will focus primarily on crawler cranes, Tadano is not directly joining in the joint venture. However, the three parties will work closely to strengthen their strategic alliance centered on the promoted joint purchasing strategy and international market.

Outline of the New Company
Corporate Name: Yet to be decided.
Head Office: Tokyo
Production Source: Hitachi Construction Machinery and
Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane (SCC)
Authorized Capital: 1 Billion Yen
( to be subscribed 50% each by Hitachi and SCC )
Projected Sales: 20 Billion Yen
Business Purpose: Sales, R & D, production, and servicing, etc. of crawler cranes
and other cranes .
Number of Employees: Approximately 100
Planned Date of Incorporation: July 1, 2002
Planned Date of Start-Up: October 1, 2002