Linamar purchases MacDon Industries for $1.2 billion

Dec 15, 2017

The acquisition is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity says Linamar’s CEO

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

Guelph, Ont.’s Linamar strengthened its presence in the agricultural sector with yesterday’s announcement of its $1.2 billion acquisition of MacDon Industries.

Linamar’s agricultural division includes Harvestec corn heads in North America and OROS combines in Europe. Linamar owned White Farm Equipment in the 1980s and produced combines for Massey Ferguson as Western Combine in the 1990s.

The company’s acquisition of Winnipeg-based MacDon is part of Linamar’s Vision 2100 – Building an Action Plan for the Future, which includes agriculture as a global addressable market.

The deal also includes MacDon’s manufacturing facilities and network of 1,400 dealers and distributors throughout 40 countries.

Agricultural and industrial equipment account for about 1.2 per cent of Linamar’s total market concentration, according to the organization’s investor presentation in November.

But this type of deal only comes around “once-in-a-lifetime,” and positions Linamar as a future leader in the ag industry, said Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of Linamar.

“We are very excited to announce today what we see as a really important step in our growth and diversification strategy,” she said during a conference call yesterday. “The deal provides us diversification into an opportunistic market and it provides innovation as MacDon is considered an innovative market leader in all of its products.”

Another positive element of the deal is that the exchange took place between two Canadian companies.

In an industry where mergers and acquisitions can be international affairs, the Linamar/MacDon deal shows Canada’s strength in agriculture.

“What we’ve seen in the past couple of years is continued acquisitions within the short-line industry,” Leah Olson, president of Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada, told Farms.com today. “From this perspective, seeing that MacDon will continue to be a Canadian company is really great and speaks well for the company’s products, dealers and the farmers that use the equipment.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.