Deere & Company completes acquisition of Ningbo Benye

Deere & Company announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the Ningbo Benye Tractor & Automobile Manufacture Co. Ltd. business, located in Ningbo in southern China. In June, Deere announced it had signed a definitive agreement to purchase Benye.

The acquisition expands John Deere's product line for Chinese farmers and enhances the company's worldwide capacity to produce low horsepower tractors. In China, Deere currently builds tractors in the 60 to 120 horsepower range at a joint venture tractor factory in Tianjin while Benye mainly builds tractors in the 20 to 50 horsepower range.

Benye is the largest tractor manufacturer in southern China and currently receives 95 percent of its revenue from sales within China, although it has exported to 70 countries worldwide. Deere expects to leverage Benye's product range and manufacturing capacity for sales in China and into other Asian, African, and Commonwealth of Independent States markets.

Deere has provided products and services to the China agricultural market since 1976 and has manufactured equipment in China since 1997. Currently, the company manufactures combines in Jiamusi and tractors in Tianjin.