Topcon takes over Sokkia

Two leading manufacturers of precision surveying instruments - Topcon Corporation and Sokkia Co. Ltd., both with corporate headquarters in Japan - are combined effective 5 February 2008.

The Japanese Fair Trade Commission recently approved the combination, in which Topcon purchased more than 32 million shares of Sokkia stock for about USD194 million; the shares Topcon purchased represents about 94 percent of outstanding stock.

The combination creates the world's leading supplier of surveying instruments. Both companies provide turnkey positioning solutions for surveyors worldwide. Subsequent to this combination, Sokkia will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Topcon Corporation.

Topcon and Sokkia have offices throughout the world, including in U.S., Canada, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China, Korea and Malaysia. The European head offices for both Sokkia and Topcon are located in The Netherlands.

Both Sokkia and Topcon have a dealer network in Europe. This joining of our companies not only protects those networks but the new company expects this will provide additional opportunities for business growth and increased customer satisfaction.

With more than a combined 160 years in the business of manufacturing precise measuring instruments (Sokkia was founded more than 85 years ago, Topcon more than 75 years ago), the companies "bring to the marketplace a history of innovation, quality products and exemplary service after the sale," Van der Weijden said. "This will not only allow us to continue on our growth and expansion, it will allow us to do it at the highest possible pace as well."

For both companies, it will be ‘business as usual', with no change in brand or distribution network. The natural synergistic opportunities in the key areas of engineering and manufacturing that this combining of resources will allow for, will offer both companies to perform certain business operations to highest quality standards and efficiency levels. Combining these two strong leaders in the survey industry dramatically and positively changes the dynamics of the global survey marketplace.

The companies also have a similarity in the customer focus of the two companies as well as their strong focus on building relationships with their distributors as true partners in the business.