Hitachi Construction Buys Out Canadian Specialty Software Company

Hitachi Construction Machinery Ltd. of Japan will acquire 60% of the stock of BC-based Wenco International Mining Systems, which makes software that uses global positioning systems (GPS) to monitor and manage heavy mining equipment. Wenco will become a wholly-owned Hitachi subsidiary by 2012. Hitachi plans to use Wenco’s technology to boost sales of its own mining machinery. It will pay approximately C$11 million to acquire the Canadian firm.