UMW forms joint venture with Komatsu for heavy equipment business

KUALA LUMPUR: UMW Holdings Bhd is forming a strategic partnership via a joint venture (JV) with Komatsu Ltd of Japan for the latter’s heavy equipment business.

UMW Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary UMW Corp Sdn Bhd and Komatsu have entered into a transaction agreement to establish a joint venture company for the heavy equipment business in UMW.

Through the JV, UMW and Komatsu plan to strengthen and expand market penetration of Komatsu’s products in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea by capturing new growth areas and firming up existing presence with the introduction of new products and services to meet customers demand.

The JV is premised on the longstanding business relationship between UMW and Komatsu since 1965.

UMW Holdings president and group chief executive officer Badrul Feisal Abdul Rahim said the partnership would allow UMW to move up the value chain from a pure distributor to a JV partner.

“We look forward to the enhanced opportunities that this JV will bring to both organisations, especially via the expansion of new equipment variants and improvement of value-added services to maintain customers’ loyalty and strengthen the market share in the territories that we operate,” he said.

Following the execution of the transaction agreement, UMW Holdings said the company and Komatsu would subsequently enter into a joint venture agreement to govern the next phase of cooperation between the two parties as JV partners.

UMW Corp and Komatsu will hold 74 and 26 per cent stakes, respectively, of the issued and paid up share capital of the joint venture company.