Samsung deal gives Clark a foreign-market lift

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 9/1/1998

In a move that will bolster its presence in foreign markets, forklift-truck manufacturer Clark Material Handling Co. of Lexington, Ky., is slated to take over a South Korean maker of industrial trucks. Clark has signed an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. of South Korea to acquire Samsung's worldwide forklift business.

Clark officials say the acquisition will significantly increase the company's share of market overseas. In Asia, for instance, Samsung's merger with Clark will boost its market share from 1 percent to 29 percent.

The two companies have had a relationship for the past two decades. Samsung actually entered the lift-truck market in 1982, building Clark forklifts for export under a licensing arrangement. In 1986, the two companies formed a joint venture to make trucks in South Korea. "We had a 15-year working relationship with the Samsung people and they are heavily grounded in Clark technology," says Clark CEO Marty Dorio. "It was a strong combination we couldn't ignore."

The takeover comes on the heels of Clark's buyout last year of another truck maker, Blue Giant Corp. Like its first acquisition, Samsung will become a self-managed business.

Clark, a privately held company, says its annual sales total nearly $500 million. It manufactures and markets electric and internal-combustion forklifts, narrow-aisle forklifts, stackers, order pickers, and pallet trucks.

The Samsung acquisition includes a 213,000 square-foot manufacturing plant located in Changwon, South Korea. That facility will produce a line of forklifts with capacities ranging from 1.5 to 7.0 tons.