Gelsenkirchen/ Munich — Komatsu announ­ced today that it has ente­red into an agree­ment to acquire GHH Group GmbH (GHH), a manu­fac­tu­rer of machi­nes for under­ground mining, tunnel­ing and foun­da­tion engi­nee­ring head­quar­te­red in Gelsen­kir­chen, Germany. The GHH Group deve­lops and produ­ces vehic­les for under­ground and tunnel cons­truc­tion. Komatsu, head­quar­te­red in Tokyo, opera­tes as a leading manu­fac­tu­rer of cons­truc­tion, mining, forestry and indus­trial equip­ment in more than 140 count­ries. Komatsu was advi­sed by Henge­ler Müller in this transaction.

GHH was foun­ded in the 1960s and is now part of the German Schmidt Kranz Group. The company offers a wide range of machi­nes focu­sing on loaders and arti­cu­la­ted dump trucks in the medium-seam mining, narrow-gauge and civil engi­nee­ring market segments. With this acqui­si­tion, Komatsu will acquire GHH’s facto­ries and conver­sion capa­bi­li­ties in key markets in addi­tion to its robust product offe­ring and talen­ted workforce.

We are very exci­ted about this acqui­si­tion as it repres­ents a great oppor­tu­nity for Komatsu to expand its under­ground mining equip­ment offe­ring and acce­le­rate new product deve­lo­p­ment through syner­gies with Komatsu’s exis­ting team and product offe­ring,” said Peter Salditt, presi­dent and CEO of Komatsu Mining Corp. “With the addi­tion of GHH’s facto­ries and rebuild opera­ti­ons in key markets in Europe, South Africa, India and Chile. We also want to use it to streng­then produc­tion and service capa­ci­ties for our customers.”

Komatsu intends to conti­nue GHH’s excel­lent service and plans to operate as usual after the acqui­si­tion. The combi­ned team will then work toge­ther to expand Komatsu’s under­ground mining equip­ment offe­ring and help custo­mers access products in new areas.

“GHH is plea­sed to embark on a new jour­ney with a strong player in the mining world. This opens up tremen­dous oppor­tu­ni­ties for our people and our products to evolve and grow beyond what we had hoped for,” said Dr. Jan Petzold, CEO of GHH Group. “This is the next logi­cal step in beco­ming a true global player, and we look forward to beco­ming part of the Komatsu family.”

In fact, GHH may be conside­red a rock in the indus­try, with roots dating back to 1758. At its peak as a mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring conglo­me­rate, it had almost 100,000 employees. Indus­trial giants like MAN, Roland and MTU were once among them. In 1995, GHH Fahr­zeuge GmbH split off as a specia­list for under­ground equip­ment. Within 25 years, the manu­fac­tu­rer advan­ced to become a real player in the world market.

GHH supplies almost ever­y­thing that is on wheels in deep mining and espe­ci­ally in raw mate­rial mining. GHH exports its loaders, dump trucks, concrete mixers, and shove­lers around the globe. This includes dril­ling rigs, anchor hand­ling equip­ment and tunnell­ing machi­nes from Mine Master as well as flat travel­ling loaders from GHH Mining Machi­nes. A dense part­ner network under­pins the company’s claim to be a “total solu­tion provi­der” offe­ring ever­y­thing from a single source. The offi­cial closing of the acqui­si­tion is sche­du­led for the first half of 2023.

Under the ongo­ing medium-term manage­ment plan “DANTOTSU Value — Toge­ther, to ‘The Next’ for sustainable growth,” Komatsu is working to expand its under­ground hard­rock mining offe­rings and create new value for custo­mers by deve­lo­ping new equip­ment, proces­ses and tech­no­lo­gies that will help opera­ti­ons reach the next level for the work­place of the future and create a more sustainable envi­ron­ment for the next generation.

About Komatsu
Komatsu deve­lops and supplies tech­no­lo­gies, equip­ment and services for the cons­truc­tion, mining, fork­lift, indus­trial and forestry markets. For a century, the company has crea­ted value for its custo­mers through manu­fac­tu­ring and tech­no­logy inno­va­tion, and colla­bo­ra­ted with others to enable a sustainable future where people, busi­nesses and the planet thrive together.