Buhler Industries, best known for making the large Versatile tractors, is being taken off the Toronto Stock Exchange by the Turkish family that has accumulated almost all of the shares.
Buhler Industries was established in 1969 when John Buhler purchased the Standard Gas Engine Works. The company produced the Farm King line of grain augers, snowblowers, mowers and small implements.
It bought Versatile in 2000 when Case-New Holland needed to divest it to win federal government approval the merger with New Holland.
It operates eight manufacturing plants throughout North America.
The purchaser, ASKO, is wholly-owned by the Konukoğlu family. ASKO owns the firm Basak Traktor, which purchased 80 per cent of Buhler Industries from Russian combine manufacturer Rostselmach.
Rostselmach’s owner was hit by Canadian sanctions after Russia invaded the Ukraine and for a time Buhler was run by its Canadian management team.
Currently ASKO owns 96.7 per cent of the firm’s shares.
Following the completion of the amalgamation, the shares will be de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange and the company will apply to cease to be a reporting issuer under applicable Canadian securities laws.
ASKO owns firms worldwide that manufacture construction equipment, energy and technology equipment, and agricultural equipment including tractors. As well as building and marketing its own equipment, it also manufactures tractors for the German firm CLAAS.
