Following approval of the deal by German anti-trust authorities, insolvent garden tool manufacturer Wolf-Garten (Betzdorf / Germany; www.wolf-garten.com), in administration since January, will be acquired by its US competitor Modern Tool and Die Company (MTD, European HQ: Saarbrücken / Germany; www.mtdeurope.com) on 1 September. The insolvency administrator is Klaus Ortmüller of the law firm Ortmüller Meissenburg & Partner (Betzdorf / Germany; www.rae-ortmueller.de).

MTD is a family-owned business based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is acquiring the Wolf-Garten sites in Betzdorf, St. Wendel and Etzback together with the 440 employees and all brand rights. The rights previously held by the Wolf family were transferred to an associated holding, Wolf Beteiligungsgesellschaft in 2004. With the financial backing of MTD, Wolf-Garten will be able to restart deliveries. The company’s s order books are reported to be full.

Wolf operates an injection moulding plant for handles, lawn mower housings and other technical parts at the St. Wendel site. A spokesman declined to comment on the proportion of components manufactured in-house. It is not yet clear whether the plastics processing operations will be retained after the takeover in September but the spokesman told Plasteurope.com that substantial changes can be expected. Wolf-Garten has not published sales figures but turnover was believed to be just under EUR 90m in fiscal 2007.

MTD has 310 employees in Europe and generated sales of around EUR 266m in this market in 2006/2007 (31 October). Brands sold in Europe include “Bolens”, “Gutbrod”, “Yard-Man” and “Cub Cadet”. The US company owns an injection moulding facility at Nemesvamos / Hungary.