This acquisition follows H-E Parts’ purchase of Australian-based wheel group, and rebuild-and-service specialist, Birrana Engineering in March 2008. According to H-E Parts, the CME acquisition, along with the recent acquisition of Crown Parts and Machine of Montana in the US, makes H-E Parts the world’s largest independent supplier of parts, remanufactured components and equipment to the global mining, quarry and heavy construction industries. CME was founded in 1988 by the current managing director David Davenport, and now has a turnover of more than $70 million per year and employs about 100 people. The company has its head office in Perth, with branches in Brisbane and Sydney and agencies in the Philippines, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates. H-E Parts is based in Atlanta, Georgia and is headed by JP Richard, a former chief executive officer of Massey Ferguson. The Australian arm of H-E Parts is headed by managing director Ian Olivieri, who spent the bulk of his career with Komatsu Australia, where he was managing director from 1997 to 2004. Davenport said CME is working on a number of expansion strategies, the most immediate being the opening of a branch in Melbourne this month. “We are also considering opening of a branch in Fujairah [in] the United Arab Emirates later in the year, probably in conjunction with one of our US-based sister companies,” Davenport said.
