Family owned Kramer Ltd. has been sold.
Finning International Inc. of Vancouver announced last week that it would buy the operating assets of the Regina-based company’s Caterpillar dealership for $230 million. The deal is expected to close by July.
Tim Kramer, who managed the company for the last 23 years, said the family is retiring after 70 years in the equipment business.
Last year, the company announced it was leaving the agricultural equipment business. Kramer previously had distributed Lexion combines, Challenger tractors, RoGator and TerraGator application equipment and Bourgault seeding and tillage equipment.
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“It’s just time,” Kramer said of the sale after a news conference May 6. “We’ve had a very successful company.”
His grandfather, Robert Kramer, founded the company in 1944. It grew to include 475 employees at nine Sask-atchewan locations and last year generated about $275 million in revenue.
Finning also began as a family company, in 1933, but is now publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Ex-change. It is the world’s largest Cat heavy equipment dealership with 14,000 employees; 5,200 of those are in western Canada.
Kramer said he expects all current employees in Saskatchewan will remain employed. Incoming Finning Saskatchewan vice-president Tony de Sousa also said the workers would be retained.
Finning chief executive officer Scott Thomson said the new owners would continue Kramer’s commitment to communities. The Kramer family’s philanthropic efforts are well known.
“There is simply a lot to admire about the Kramer family and the Kramer business,” Thomson said.
He and de Sousa said they will rely on the employees to teach them about the Saskatchewan market.
Finning has operations in British Columbia, Alberta and the three northern territories, and the Sask-atchewan acquisitions advance its reach.
Kramer said doing business in Saskatchewan requires companies to be close to their customers.
“That’s something we hope that we can teach them how to do. When you’re a family run company in Saskatchewan, it’s just different.”
Regina will remain Finning’s provincial headquarters.
“It’s a strategic investment,” said Thomson. “It’s a significant investment, and it reflects what we see as a significant growth opportunity in Saskatchewan.”
Finning will serve agricultural customers with Cat products, he added.
“We’re going to do that also in Alberta and B.C., by the way,” he said.
“This is not a Saskatchewan specific comment. Getting closer to that customer base is going to be a priority for us.”
Finning may expand into forestry, potash and uranium, Thomson said.
