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Ingersoll Rand Co. Limited has agreed to sell its Road Development business unit to AB Volvo for cash proceeds of approximately $1.3 billion. The sale, which is subject to government regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is targeted to close in the second quarter of 2007.

The Road Development business unit manufactures and sells asphalt paving equipment, compaction equipment, milling machines and construction-related material-handling equipment. Its 2006 net revenues were approximately $850 million, including intercompany revenues of roughly $150 million. The sale includes manufacturing facilities in Letterkenny and Shippensburg, PA; Hameln, Germany; Wuxi, China; and Bangalore, India; as well as 20 U.S. distribution and service facilities.

"Strategically, the acquisition of Ingersoll Rand Road Development fits exceptionally well with Volvo's current operations within motor graders, and positions Volvo as a full-range manufacturer of heavy road construction equipment," says Tony Helsham, president of Volvo Construction Equipment. "Geographically, the purchase also fits Volvo CE very well and provides attractive growth possibilities by capitalizing on the common dealer network in North America, Europe and Asia."

Morbark, Inc. is celebrating 50 years of manufacturing industrial equipment systems.

The company was founded in 1957 by Norval Morey, a veteran logger, sawmill owner and entrepreneur who perfected and introduced the first portable pulpwood debarker. In the decades that followed, Morbark was credited with introducing the first portable whole tree chipper, disc-style brush chipper and drum-style chipper. With the creation of the combination Flail Chiparvestor in 1991, and the development of the first industrial tub and horizontal grinders, the company was poised for its current growth. Today, its products are manufactured in a 1.5 million-sq-ft. plant in its hometown of Winn, MI.