By SIMON HENDERY
An Auckland hydraulics company has bought out a Sydney competitor as part of expansion into Australia.
Hydraulink Fluid Connectors, which already had franchised hydraulics service outlets, distributors and mobile repair vans in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands has bought rival Australian company Auspower Hydraulics.
Hydraulink joint managing director
Lee Short said the company, which turns over about $12 million a year, would benefit from setting up another Australian base at Auspower's big outlet in Sydney.
"We have been supplying Australia from New Zealand for some time and we really needed to put in place a distribution centre and head office to be able to service our customers overnight, put people on the ground to do deals, and all that sought of thing," Mr Short said.
As well as its Sydney base, Auspower runs mobile repair vans and a New South Wales distribution network, and makes sales in the rest of Australia.
Hydraulink, which makes its fluid transfer systems in Pukekohe, is now going through a "gently, gently" rebranding of its Australian acquisition.
"The synergies were much the same, the culture much the same and the customer base much the same, so it made [the buyout] much easier for us," Mr Short said.
The company was wary of the difficulties which often plague companies expanding across the Tasman, but was confident it had done its homework.
It had considered building a business from scratch, but abandoned that plan when Auspower came up for sale.
"We had a good hard look at the greenfields situation and decided on acquisition, because it was a quicker road to where we wanted to go to.
"There has been quite a bit of research in terms of who they [Auspower] were. We didn't rush the negotiations ... and we've ended up with what we believe is a very good, tidy acquisition."
