Reading Truck Group has reached a purchase agreement with the PALFINGER Group for its service bodies line of business. Reading Truck Group will assume customers, staff and assets at four PalFleet sites: Council Bluffs, IA, Indianapolis, IN, Louisville, KY and Nashville, TN.
The transaction is expected to close in March. With these additions, the number of Reading distribution and upfitting sites will increase to 14 facilities in 11 states.
“The acquisition of these PalFleet locations expands chassis pool availability in the Midwest, enhances service accessibility and elevates brand awareness, from which all Reading distributors can benefit,” said Tom Reynolds, President of Reading Truck Group.
“The agreement with Reading Truck Group allows PALFINGER to grow and expand our core products and service, therefore delivering enhanced value solutions to our customers moving forward,” said Mark Woody, VP Sales and Marketing – Palfinger North America Group.
The PALFINGER Group, in a release, said it had “reached an important milestone in the restructuring of its business in North America.”
Omaha Standard LLC will exit the service body business and will use the Council Bluffs plant to continue the manufacturing and marketing of PALFINGER core products, primarily including the PALFINGER brand PAL Pro Mechanics bodies, telescopic service cranes and liftgates.
The release said “the future strategic direction of PalFleet will include a strong focus on these same core products, in addition to the sales, installation and service of PALFINGER articulating cranes and truck mounted forklifts through its remaining locations. With a strong commitment to these core products, PALFINGER will provide a differentiating value proposition to key market segments in North America. Such a focused strategy allows for future growth of these competitive product lines.”
The service body has been part of the PALFINGER product portfolio since 2008, when it was acquired as part of Omaha Standard. In the course of the restructuring measures launched in 2016, the decision was made to optimize the product portfolio and focus on the core business. The transaction with the Reading Truck Group will support the restructuring process.