Ag Growth buys Kansas conveyor maker

The Winnipeg owner of a clutch of grain handling equipment makers is investing further up the value chain in the conveyor business.

Ag Growth International on Tuesday announced it’s bought Tramco, a Wichita, Kans. maker of heavy-duty chain conveyor systems used by grain and oilseed processors, for US$21.3 million.

Tramco, founded by Wichita businessman and rancher Leon Trammell in 1967, has sold its systems into over 50 countries. It runs manufacturing plants at Wichita and at Hull in northeastern England, as well as Euro-Tramco, a sales office at Amersfoort, southeast of Amsterdam.

Its sales into the domestic and international grain processing sectors have averaged about US$30 million in the last two fiscal years, Ag Growth noted in a release. Tramco sells systems also into the mining, manufacturing and solid waste processing sectors, among others.

Ag Growth, whose stable already includes Swift Current, Sask. grain conveyor maker Batco and belt conveyor maker Hi Roller of Sioux Falls, S.D., said it views Tramco as an “excellent entry point” into the processing sector.

Processing “is an integral part of the food supply chain and is a compelling direction for Ag Growth to continue to build its leadership in grain handling equipment,” Ag Growth’s new CEO Gary Anderson said in the release.

And Tramco, he said, is an “industry leader with a premier brand name and strong market share.”

Tramco’s international footprint also includes a strategic alliance in China and sales efforts in other markets such as South America, Ag Growth noted.