Fifth-wheel specialist VIM is sold
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In UK fifth wheel manufacturer VBG has been sold by its Swedish parent company VBG Produkter.
The firm, based in a purpose-built factory near St Helens on Merseyside, has been bought by US-based Marmon Group in a deal worth about Elm.
VBG will remain the distributor for VBG fifth wheels and drawbar couplings in the UK and Ireland; the Swedish company will continue to market UK-made fifth wheels in Scandinavia.
VBG's managing director, Cliff Cook, hopes that the firm can become a global supplier—the UK operation will handle all of VBC's European OE (original equipment) marketing.
Its most recent products, including a pressed steel fifth wheel and a low-maintenance cast iron model, were launched at the CV Show in March.
The Marmon Group consists of more than 100 companies, mainly in manufacturing, but also in the medical, industrial and mining sectors.
The group is owned by the Prftzker family of Chicago. It has an annual turnover of about $6bn (14bn) and takes its name from the Marmon-Herrington group, which used to build luxury cars and specialist on and off-road trucks, and which still sells all-wheel-drive conversion kits for trucks.
The group also includes another fifth wheel manufacturer, Fontaine, which used to be active in the UK.