Bobcat Company of West Fargo, ND, recently announced the purchase of Superstav, s.r.o., a manufacturer of compact loader backhoes based in Dobri, Czech Republic, and its subsidiary Earth Force America Inc. of Charleston, SC.

The acquisition includes Superstav’s line of compact loader-backhoe products—marketed under the EarthForce brand—and its Dobri manufacturing plant located outside Prague. Company founder Chris Nielsen will continue as president of Superstav, which employs 200 in its design and manufacturing operations. Since he started the company five years ago, Nielsen has focused on developing and manufacturing a range of six fully hydrostatic, compact loader-backhoes with digging depths ranging from 9 to 13 feet. The products are sold primarily in the utility, light construction and rental markets.

According to Chuck Hoge, Bobcat Company president, "With this acquisition, we are addressing two important strategic opportunities for our company. First, we are expanding our product range to include compact loader-backhoes, which represent a growing worldwide market segment and complement our ability to serve customers in the compact tool carrier market. The EarthForce products are exceptional designs that have a high degree of component commonality with Bobcat products. They are also capable of utilizing a wide variety of current Bobcat attachments."

"EarthForce loader-backhoes are currently sold through a network of independent dealers in North America, with limited distribution in Europe. The units will continue to be marketed under the EarthForce brand," said Hoge. "The products will be integrated into Bobcat distribution channels as production capacity increases, utilizing our comprehensive Bobcat sales and distribution organization that comprises more than 900 dealers worldwide."

North Dakota-based Bobcat Company is a business unit of Ingersoll-Rand Company, Woodcliff Lake, NJ, a major diversified industrial company.