The Weir Group PLC, an engineering firm headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, has acquired Sudbury mining bucket maker Carriere Industrial Supply Ltd.
The companies made the announcement in a joint statement on April 11.
“CIS has served the Canadian mining market since 1964 as a premier manufacturer, distributor and provider of highly engineered wear parts and aftermarket services. We are delighted to join Weir’s ESCO division, the leading provider of mining and infrastructure equipment,” CIS said in the statement.
“This is a highly complementary fit with CIS’ expertise in open-pit and underground mining applications.”
The two companies have had an existing business relationship for more than 50 years, with CIS previously serving as a distributor of Weir ESCO’s products in Eastern Canada.
Based in the Walden Industrial Park outside of Sudbury, CIS was founded in 1964 by Armand Carriere in Cobalt, Ont., and relocated to Sudbury in 1990 after the Sherman and Adams iron ore mines closed.
Initially a distributor, CIS expanded into manufacturing in the early 1990s.
Today it designs and manufactures materials-handling equipment for the mining industry, including buckets and truck bodies, which are shipped to companies across the North, and in the U.S., Australia, and South America.
The company employs 140 people.
CIS will now join Weir’s ESCO division, which designs, manufactures, and services equipment used by companies in mining and infrastructure markets.
The company said it would draw on CIS’ expertise to expand its presence in Eastern Canada.
“The acquisition of CIS aligns with our strategy of providing direct sales and service to our mining customers and builds on our longstanding partnership, while also enhancing our capabilities in underground hard rock mining applications,” said Andrew Neilson, president of Weir’s ESCO division, in a release.
The Weir Group has been in operation since 1871.
