Paccar set to take over Daf Trucks
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• Daf Trucks is recommending its shareholders accept a 1347m takeover bid from US truck manufacturer and Foden Trucks owner Paccar.
The deal is expected to be signed before the 15 November deadline in a move that will leave Paccar in complete control of the company. Daf's shareholders are currently a consortium of banks and governments in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The acquisition should be completed by the end of the year but there are early signs that Paccar plans to maintain Daf as a separate company.
The existing workforce and management are expected to be retained; Leyland Daf and Foden are expected to operate as separate companies following Paccar's practice in the US, where it owns Peterbilt and Kenworth.
Leyland Trucks, which supplies the 45 and 55-Series mod
els, says: "What's good for Daf is good for us."
This could be third time lucky for Paccar: it made its first bid for Leyland when it was sold to Daf in the late 1980s, and tried again when Daf crashed in February 1993.
Paccar also has manufacturing facilities in Australia and Mexico. In 1995 production totalled 54,000 vehicles, making it the third largest truck producer in the world.