Nors to acquire StrongCo Corporation, Canada

Mississauga, Ontario and Porto, Portugal – January 27, 2020: Strongco Corporation (“Strongco”) (TSX:SQP) and Nors, S.A. (“Nors”) announced that they have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement pursuant to which Nors will acquire Strongco.

Nors, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, will acquire all the outstanding equity of Strongco, a major multiline mobile equipment dealer with operations across Canada. Strongco sells, rents and services equipment used in diverse sectors such as construction, infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, utilities, municipalities, waste management and forestry. The Company has approximately 500 employees serving customers from 26 branches in Canada.

The transaction value amounts to approximately €132 million.

“In recent years, Strongco’s management has done an excellent job of strengthening the company’s capital structure, streamlining the business and reducing costs. As we welcome Strongco into the Nors family, we believe that Strongco will benefit from Nors’ global presence and brand recognition, and from its long experience in the automotive and construction equipment industry to further enhance Strongco’s future growth.” commented Tomás Jervell, Chief Executive Officer of Nors.

Robert Beutel, Executive Chairman of Strongco, added: “As Strongco moves to enhance its product and service offerings in Canada we are pleased to become part of the Nors Group. Nors’ international experience and capital foundation, in many of the same product lines on four continents, brings the know-how and experience to elevate our potential to deliver leading edge quality to our growing customer base in an increasingly global environment.”

The Proposed Transaction is to be completed by way of a statutory plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) after approval at a special meeting of Strongco Shareholders and has unanimous support of the independent special committee of the Strongco board, as well as Strongco’s full board. It will also be subject to court, regulatory and stock exchange approval.

Closing of the Proposed Transaction is expected to take place before the end of Q1 2020.

About Strongco

Strongco Corporation is a major multiline mobile equipment dealer with operations across Canada. Strongco sells, rents and services equipment used in diverse sectors such as construction, infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, utilities, municipalities, waste management and forestry. The Company has approximately 500 employees serving customers from 26 branches in Canada. Strongco represents leading equipment manufacturers with globally recognized brands, including Volvo Construction Equipment, Case Construction, Manitowoc Crane, including National and Grove, Terex Cedarapids, Terex Trucks, Fassi, Sennebogen, Konecranes and SDLG. Strongco is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SQP.

About Nors

Nors is a Portuguese based private company that sells, rents and services construction, infrastructure, mining and forestry equipment, trucks, busses, cars and marine and industrial engines in 16 countries in four continents: Portugal, Spain, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Turkey, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Mexico and the USA. The company was founded in 1933, has 3,600 employees and a turnover of over €1.6 billion. Nors represents leading heavy equipment manufacturers with global brands like Volvo Construction Equipment, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Bus, Volvo Penta, Renault Trucks, UD Trucks, DongFeng Trucks, SDLG, Sennebogen, Grove, Epiroc, Sandvik, Case IH, Kohler-SDMO, Yale and Hyster.