Case IH, New Holland forge new trail

Giant CNH Industrial plans spin-off of Iveco trucking business

Agricultural giants Case IH and New Holland will lead a new “Off-Highway” entity of parent company CNH Industrial by 2021

Agricultural giants Case IH and New Holland will lead a new “Off-Highway” entity of parent company CNH Industrial by 2021 – making up 75 per cent of the new company’s revenue.

CNH’s agricultural brands, which also include European tractor marque Steyr, will be joined by CNH’s Case Construction Equipment and New Holland Construction, as well as Magirus firefighting equipment and the defence vehicles and Astra quarry trucks divisions of truck marque Iveco in the new group.

CNH Industrial appointed a new managing director for agriculture in Australia and New Zealand in July – check out the story here

CNH says the combined divisions produced revenues of US$15.6 billion in 2018 – with 19 per cent of that coming from the construction business and the remaining 6 per cent from the specialty vehicles.

“Case IH, New Holland Agriculture and Steyr will build on their market positions, further strengthened product line-ups and improved distribution, and accelerated investment in automation and digitalisation activities,” the company says.

CNH says the “On-Highway” and “Off-Highway” parts of the company have different regulatory needs and are dealing with the global trends of digitalisation, automation, low-/zero-emission propulsion and servitisation differently.

The separated “On-Highway” division, which had 2018 revenue of US$13.1 billion, will comprise the bus and remaining truck divisions of Iveco, as well as Heuliez Bus and FPT Industrial powertrains.

CNH says that FPT Industrial will remain a key supplier to the “Off-Highway” business through a long-term supply agreement.

Company chief executive Hubertus Mühlhäuser says the split will allow each of the brands to better realise their potential in terms of generating value for shareholders and stakeholders alike.

“Our clear assessment of the key megatrends, that are rapidly changing the business landscape, has led us to embrace this challenge and transform the company,” he says.

“Benefitting from greater management focus, the two companies will accelerate their innovation, be nimbler in their strategic thinking and actively participate in industry consolidation.”

The decision will be subject to the approval of shareholders, with an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders expected to be held in the second half of 2020.

The news comes as the company announced that it would acquire US-based farm management information systems developer AgDNA, which it says will complement its range of precision farming software with its single point data integration, mapping and analytical tools.