Pewag Completes Acquisition of Forestry Specialist Wallingford's, BABAC

Thu April 21, 2022
American Loggers Council

Pewag Group, a global company in traction chain devices and industrial chain solutions (founded 1479), has completed the acquisition of Wallingford's Inc. and BABAC Inc., a U.S.-based provider of forestry traction devices, forestry supplies and snow chains.

Wallingford's and BABAC have been consolidated as part of pewag's Traction and Forestry segment.

The acquisition of Wallingford's and BABAC is a strong fit with pewag's North American forestry business and in particular its forestry traction devices business. It is part of the strategy of pewag to be a leader in this segment globally. Moreover, the high-quality forestry traction devices, developed and manufactured by pewag in Austria and Czech Republic will be integrated in the portfolio of Wallingford's.

Pewag has hundreds of years of experience in the manufacturing of chains and their components. Since the first documented reference of its forging plant in Brueckl, Austria 1479, pewag group became one of the leading chain manufacturers worldwide. Today its success is based on well engineered state-of-the-art quality products.

Pewag's business areas are mainly snow chains, forestry traction, hoist and conveyor chains, do-it-yourself products, engineering, lifting and lashing chains and accessories and tire protection chains. Modern chain production facilities in Europe and in Pueblo, Colo., allow for this variety of high-quality products.

"The combination of pewag's strong portfolio in forestry with traction devices and the wide distribution network of Wallingford's in the forestry industry will result in a leadership position in this sector in North-America. Moreover, the skidder and ring skidder traction devices developed and manufactured by BABAC will complete pewag's global forestry product range," said Rob Bekkers, CEO Pewag Traction & Forestry.

Founded in 1975, Wallingford's Inc. is an international wholesaler of tire chain, logging and industrial supplies and the largest of its kind. Products are predominantly sold to distributors in North America. The range includes in particular traction systems (tracks/skidder chains/tire chains), cutting systems, logging supplies and industrial supplies. The sales and marketing office is located in Oakland, Maine, with a distribution, assembly and administrative facility in New Hampton, New Hampshire, and Canadian distribution centers in Edmonton, Alberta and in Montreal, Quebec. In the position as president of Wallingford's Inc., Chip Wallingford will be in charge for the future development and is taking over this position from John J. Wallingford.

"We are very excited to be now part of the global pewag group, which will add value and quality to our product portfolio, improve our position in the North-American forestry market and will definitely give a further push to our professional customer service.

"We have always valued the high-quality European products and we are very pleased to have pewag products in our portfolio. Furthermore, the global leadership of pewag's snow chain traction devices will be strengthened with Wallingford's offerings," said Chip Wallingford.

With the acquisition of Wallingford's and BABAC, pewag will continue to:

• Strive for Leading in Quality
• Take a position as Leading in Responsibility
• Use the centuries of expertise to be Leading in Technology
• While Leading in Economics.

The coming period, both group of companies will investigate and implement a strategy to optimize its presence on the North American markets with the aim to offer a better, broader product portfolio and further improved services to its clients.

For more information, visit www.pewag-group.com, www.pewagchain.com and www.wallingfords.com.