Deere and Company Thursday morning announced plans to buy the Wirtgen Group, a German maker of road-construction equipment.
Deere is buying the company for $5.2 billion cash, making it by far the largest acquisition in the its history. The largest purchase prior to this was $600 million for the Timberjack Company in 1999.
Deere and Company spokesman Ken Golden says The Wirtgen Group is the world leader in road construction equipment, selling its products in more than 100 countries.
"What this means, of course, is after the acquisition is complete, Deere will become the industry leader in global road construction."
Deere plans to keep the Wirtgen Group's five existing brands, management, employees and distribution network.
"It has a superb reputation, strong customer relationships and really demonstrated financial performance," Golden says. "These are things that Deere was attracted to with this company and we're going to keep all that in place."
The companies expect to finalize the purchase by the end of the year.