Management changes hands at Buhler

The new owners at farm equipment maker Buhler Industries have voted in new executives to run the Manitoba company.

John Buhler, the company’s founder, CEO and board chairman, has resigned from those posts, as has Ossama AbouZeid, the president, secretary treasurer and chief financial officer, one week after Russian manufacturer Combine Factory Rostselmash closed its deal to buy 80 per cent of the company’s shares.

Buhler’s new officers from Rostselmash include Dmitry Lyubimov as president and chief financial officer; Yury Ryazanov, CEO and secretary treasurer; and Dmitry Udras, chairman of the company’s board of directors. Lyubimov arrived in Winnipeg about a month ago.

Rostselmash owner Konstantin Babkin said in an interview Wednesday while visiting Winnipeg that the new owners have no near-term plans to spin off or sell any of Buhler’s existing divisions, which include Farm King, Inland, Allied and Versatile. Nor does Rostselmash have plans for Buhler to buy more companies, he said.

Buhler’s existing dealer network remains largely unchanged, but Rostselmash’s network of over 200 dealers in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan will now carry Buhler Versatile tractors, the company said in a release.