Thomas Equipment Inc. Completes Purchase of Tovel Manufacturing Assets

March 2, 2006 • Thomas Equipment Inc., with North American headquarters in Milwaukee, Wis., and Mississauga, Ontario, announced today that it has completed the purchase of substantially all of the assets of Tovel Manufacturing, including all inventory, trademarks and patents, customer lists, designs, engineering drawings and production facilities related to Tovel's rough terrain forklifts, telescopic handlers, attachments, mortar/plaster mixers, mortar boxes and buggies. The company first made its intent to buy Tovel public last fall.

Thomas, through an operating subsidiary, will purchase the Tovel assets for $1.1 million in cash plus 40,000 options to employees. Thomas management expects the acquisition to be additive to earnings within the next two quarters, and plans to immediately expand Tovel's current limited North American distribution to include Thomas' 375 global dealer network and the 424 dealer network that supports a private label program with one of Thomas' strategic OEM partners.

Tovel Manufacturing, Concord, Ontario, designs and manufactures six models of rough-terrain forklifts and five models of telescopic handlers, among other products. With limited distribution, Tovel is one of the smaller manufacturers of approximately 20 brands worldwide addressing a market opportunity in the U.S. alone that totals $1.8 billion annually in rough-terrain forklifts and telescopic handlers. The market for rough-terrain forklifts and telescopic handlers has doubled over the past 10 years during which Tovel has captured less than 1 percent of the market. To date, Tovel's customer base numbers 200 and is limited to the North American marketplace.

"The management of Thomas Equipment and Pneutech has been making accretive acquisitions for over ten years. We have a proven history of quickly consolidating an acquisition, and immediately leveraging our infrastructure to bring accelerated growth to the acquired company's revenue stream," said Clifford Rhee, president and CEO of Thomas Equipment. "In the case of Tovel, we share a similar culture and focus on product and service excellence. Our customer base, dealer network and strategic OEM partners have been awaiting our product line expansion to supply them with a more diverse range in earthmoving equipment, consistent with our traditional level of excellence.”

A portion of Tovel's manufacturing will be consolidated into Thomas Equipment's Centreville, New Brunswick plant. According to Rhee, “We will be leveraging our current engineering capability to create additional product enhancements to the Tovel line."