Johnston Sweepers Acquisition Cleared by UK Ccompetition Authorities


The UK Competition Commission has given final clearance for the acquisition of Johnston Sweepers by Bucher Industries AG, following completion of the sale back in March.

The final report published by the Competition Commission concluded that the acquisition would not be expected to lead to a lessening of competition within the outdoor sweeper market in the UK, confirming its provisional findings issued last month.

The formal clearance means that the incorporation of the companies, which includes Johnston's Danish division, Johnston Beam, and MacDonald Johnston Engineering in Australia, can now get underway, strengthening Bucher's position in Europe and accessing new markets for the company in Australia and Southeast Asia.

In Europe, the Johnston and Bucher sales organizations will continue to operate entirely independently, and the two sweeper product ranges will be marketed separately. This will allow Johnston to build on its position in Europe and its particularly successful presence in the UK market, while maintaining the company's very strong branding.

Heading up Johnston's UK and Danish companies is Coen van Rosmalen, who was appointed Managing Director following the acquisition in April. Mr. van Rosmalen commented, "The formal clearance by the Competition Commission is good news, as we expected, and means that we can start to work on securing a prosperous future for both companies, while customers can retain full confidence in the Johnston brand."

Johnston will be integrated into Bucher Municipal, the second largest division of the Swiss-based Bucher Industries, whose operations include road sweepers, snow blowers and airport cleansing equipment. The acquisition of Johnston Sweepers will take the division's sales to around £205 million, with approximately 1,600 employees.

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