There was plenty of activity in the materials handling market in 2016 – and the market growth looks like continuing in 2017. Allan Leibowitz looks at the A to Z of the past year.

Acquisition activity was dominated by the protracted Konecranes/Terex merger, which kicked off in late 2014, but was delayed in January when Terex received a rival cash bid from China’s Zoomlion Heavy Industries Science & Technology Co. Then, in May, that deal was finally scuttled when Konecranes agreed to buy Terex Corp’s crane business for EUR1.1 billion (USD1.3 billion). This deal is still to finalise. Meanwhile, Konecranes has signed an agreement with Columbus McKinnon Corporation for the sale of the STAHL CraneSystems business. Konecranes will receive cash proceeds of EUR224-230 million (USD240-247 million) from the transaction, depending on the 2016 result of STAHL CraneSystems.

Read the full article in Forklift Action here.