China's Zoomlion eyes farm machinery after $340m deal

Zoomlion, China's leading construction machinery producer, has signed a deal worth 340 million U.S. dollars to purchase a majority share in farm machinery maker Chery Heavy.
In deals signed Tuesday, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Development Co., Ltd, based in the central China's Changsha City, purchased 1.8 billion shares, or 60 percent of Chery Heavy Industry Co., Ltd, for 2.08 billion yuan.
Domestic leading private equity company, Hony Capital, purchased 600 million shares of Chery Heavy for 696 million yuan.
Zoomlion plans on using the acquisition to help modernize China's farming equipment, said Zhan Chunxin, chairman of Zoomlion in Beijing on Wednesday.
China's agricultural machinery sector is estimated to reach 400 billion yuan or more in 2015. It is expected to exceed 500 billion yuan by 2018.
Foreign brands still occupy a big part of the medium and high-end large farm machinery market in China.
Chery Heavy's revenues reached 3.86 billion yuan in 2013, with its total assets at 8.7 billion yuan.
In 2013, Zoomlion's operating income fell nearly 20 percent to reach 38.5 billion yuan and its net profits dropped 47 percent to 3.8 billion yuan.