Murata Machinery, Ltd. (hereinafter, Muratec) has entered into an agreement whereby Muratec will acquire all of the issued stock of AGVE AB of Goteborg Sweden (hereinafter, AGVE), a leading manufacturer of Automated Guided Vehicle (hereinafter, AGV), from the existing shareholders. AGVE and its subsidiaries will become 100% owned subsidiaries of Muratec.

The global AGV market has shown significant growth in recent years, AGVE is a leading company in this market, demonstrating success in broad industries such as automotive, electronics, healthcare, etc. With high technical expertise and unique solutions, AGVE has expanded its business to over 20 countries all over the world, including Central Europe and the Nordics, and its main markets with direct sales, in the US and UK where their subsidiaries exist.

"The AGVE acquisition is an important part of Muratec's strategy for the Material handling equipment market segment," said Daisuke Murata, President and C.E.O. of Murata Machinery, Ltd. "We are facing Increasing demands for advanced AGV systems in the market these days, and feel a sense of urgency  to accelerate our development activities. The rich resources of AGVE which is located in the center of the eco-system of AGV in Goteborg will surely help us to achieve it."

With this acquisition, Muratec will further strengthen its quality and expertise in providing AGV solutions, launch jointly developed products and solutions which reflect potential customer needs, and provide customers better products and services. In addition, Muratec and AGVE will further enhance both companies’ presence in the growing AGV market through cooperating in marketing AGV and related systems in the regional markets where Muratec or AGVE have strong market presence, that is the Japanese and Asian markets for Muratec and the Nordics, Europe and US markets for AGVE, as well as strengthening their after sales businesses.

Scheduled closing date for the share transfer is 28 February 2018, subject to conditions precedent prior to closing.