Chinese lifeline for Cat TBM business

Caterpillar has agreed to sell the assets of its Caterpillar Tunneling Canada Corporation (CTCC) business to Chinese company Liaoning Censcience Industry Co., Ltd. (LNSS). The deal for the real estate, machinery and intellectual property of Lovat, which Cat acquired in mid-2008 throws the business a lifeline, after Caterpillar announced in May that it would exit the sector and close the operation.

The transaction, subject to certain conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014 after the completion of CTCC’s final contracts for the supply of tunnel boring machines (TBM).

Paul Clark, Caterpillar general manager with responsibility for tunnelling said, “For the past year, LNSS has been a CTCC manufacturing partner for the sale of TBMs in China. Through this partnership, CTCC and LNSS collaborated to produce three Cat branded TBMs

for use by customers in China. Given this relationship, this agreement was a natural next step for both sides.”

As previously announced, CTCC will continue to honour its existing contracts and obligations, including maintaining a support staff to provide parts and service support through to 2016.