USNR recently announced that it has acquired Söderhamn Eriksson and all of its subsidiaries from Cellwoodgruppen AB. Even before this acquisition, USNR was the world’s largest supplier of equipment and technologies for the sawmill industry, and the addition of Söderhamn Eriksson further cements USNR’s leadership position.
George Van Hoomissen, President and CEO of USNR, commented that he was very interested in the opportunity to acquire Söderhamn Eriksson because he felt that Söderhamn Eriksson’s strong market position in Europe would complement USNR’s strong position in North America, and that both companies’ positions would be strengthened as a result of a combination in South America, Australia/New Zealand, Russia, and Asia.
“We believe that Söderhamn Eriksson’s extensive sales, distribution, and service networks in Europe will help USNR to more broadly introduce and support its products in Europe,” stated Chris Blomquist, Vice President of Sales for USNR. “Lack of local support infrastructure can be a challenge, but now the combined organization has an extensive OEM support network spanning 15 time zones, 3 continents, 10 countries, and at least 9 languages. No other company in our industry even comes close to matching this level of aftermarket support.
” Within the Söderhamn Eriksson organization, this acquisition is also viewed as tremendously positive and transformative. Henrik Lefvert, Managing Director for Söderhamn Eriksson, stated “We have products that are very well-suited to the North American style of sawmilling, and we are optimistic that with the support of USNR, we will be able to successfully introduce these products into the United States and Canada.
”Lars Lindvall, International Sales Manager for Söderhamn Eriksson added, “We are also very excited to be able to creatively package solutions that combine products from Söderhamn Eriksson with those from USNR. We have of course been able to collaborate with USNR in the past, and have done so on a number of occasions, but we are now in a position to provide fully integrated, end-to-end solutions anywhere in the world.”
“The combination of USNR and Söderhamn Eriksson offers customers far more options when planning a project,” stated Chris Blomquist. “By combining our product lines and our service and support operations, customers will be able to design the solution that best meets their needs.”
Söderhamn Eriksson operates five facilities in Sweden in addition to maintaining local-language sales, service, and aftermarket support centers in the UK, Canada, Norway, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Poland, and Germany.
