Tractor maker could eye Georgia for plant

By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

AGCO Corp. could build a new factory in the next few years, and Georgia would be a possible site, executives say.

After years of global growth through acquisitions, the Duluth-based maker of farm equipment wants to boost its market share in the United States, chairman and chief executive Martin Richenhagen said.

“We’re not as big in the U.S. as we want to be,” Richenhagen said in an interview Wednesday. “We want to be double in five years from our current market share of ten percent.”

That strategy, he said, likely means the construction of a tractor factory.

Earlier this week, Richenhagen discussed the long-term strategy plan in remarks to the Atlanta Rotary Club and said a new factory could employ about 2,000 people.

But he and other executives later said such a move is still years away and the company has no near-term plans for a new plant.

And while Richenhagen said Georgia would be among the states considered -- in addition to the Duluth headquarters, it has a distribution facility in Stone Mountain -- it already has two manufacturing plants in Kansas and a third in Minnesota.

The company also has assembly plants in Washington, Texas and Delaware.

Executives say when they are ready to move ahead, they will consider factors such as incentives, workforce quality and how friendly state and local governments are before narrowing their decision.

They also will consider expanding the existing manufacturing or assembly plant locations.

Last week, AGCO reported second quarter profit of $57.4 million, or 61 cents per share, down from $129.6 million, or $1.31 per share, in the same period of 2008. Sales fell 25 percent to about $1.8 billion largely because of the global recession, the company said.