Nissan, TCM Corp. Merge Forklift Operations

According to Bloomberg, Nissan Motor Co. and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. are merging their forklift operations through a new venture.

Nissan will own 20 percent, and Hitachi Construction will hold 26.7 percent of the venture. The remaining shares will be owned by the government-backed Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, which will provide 30 billion yen ($367 million) to the new company, according to a statement from Nissan.

The merger comes as Nissan targets to win 8 percent of the global car market by March 2017, through cutting back on businesses outside its main vehicle division. Nissan Forklift Co., a fully owned unit of the Yokohama, Japan-based company, produces about 30,000 forklifts a year in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. The new company, to be called UniCarriers Corp., will begin operations this year.

Hitachi Construction Machinery made TCM Corp. a forklift unit in 2005 and acquired all the shares it didn’t already own in December 2009.