Sany Heavy Industry Co. has agreed to buy German concrete pump maker Putzmeister Holding GmbH in what Sany said is the largest Chinese-German transaction yet. Sany and Chinese private equity company CITIC PE Advisors Ltd. will buy 100% of Putzmeister for an undisclosed price, according to an e-mailed statement.

Putzmeister has 3000 employees and sales of $751 million. The company offers a broad line of truck-mounted concrete boom pumps, separate placing booms, truck-mounted telescopic conveyors and trailer-mounted line pumps. Aichtal, Germany will become Sany’s new headquarter for concrete machinery and Norbert Scheuch will remain in his position as the head of Putzmeister under the Chinese owner.

“With this merger Putzmeister and Sany will create a new and global market leader for concrete pumps,” said Liang Wengen, chairman and founder of Sany.“Putzmeister will remain as an independent brand with its own management within the Sany group.”

Generac Power Systems Inc. has sued Kohler Co., alleging that Kohler is misrepresenting one of Generac's products in a marketing brochure, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported. At issue in the suit filed in federal court in Milwaukee, are what Generac describes as false statements by Kohler about Generac's 20 kW generator.

Generac alleges that the Kohler brochure describes its generator as providing features not included on the Generac counterpart, including a commercial-grade engine and corrosion-proof enclosure. Generac argues that it does in fact offer those features.

Generac also said the brochure portrays Generac's equipment as not offering "low-speed diagnostic exercise," which is the subject of an earlier suit patent infringement suit filed by Generac against Kohler. Kohler has disputed the claims.

Oshkosh Corp. shareholders handed a defeat to activist investor Carl Icahn by electing "at least" 12 of the 13 management-backed nominees to the company's board. Just one of six seats contested by Icahn was too close to call, the company said, reporting the results of the voting at the annual shareholder meeting.

Oshkosh, a manufacturer of military vehicles and fire and rescue trucks, said it was still completing a full counting of votes and will report the results for the last board seat within four business days.

During the meeting, Icahn was represented by Samuel Merksamer, a managing director at Icahn Partners and one of Icahn's nominees to the board. Merksamer spoke briefly to read the name of Icahn's slate and to thank shareholders. Icahn holds stakes of roughly 10% in both Oshkosh and Navistar International Corp. He said in December he would like to see the companies merge. He has also called on Oshkosh to consider selling its JLG aerial lift business and pay down debt.

Oshkosh has said its executives have met Icahn multiple times and he has not proposed "substantive ideas" that would benefit all shareholders.

Caterpillar Inc. and Energyst Cat Rental Power announced that the companies have signed a five-year agreement to globally develop temporary power solutions. No financial details were provided.

Energyst Cat Rental Power is a pan-European company formed by Caterpillar and 10 of its dealers to be the exclusive Cat dealer in Europe for rental power and temperature control solutions. Energyst provides coverage worldwide by collaborating with local Cat dealers. By working with Caterpillar, Energyst said it will further strengthen its position in the international power projects (IPP) market by offering readily available, competitively priced power solutions from Caterpillar supported by partnerships with Cat dealers.

“Energyst has demonstrated expertise in deploying large projects worldwide and we see great opportunities in the IPP market,” said Gary Smith, chief executive officer of Energyst. “By putting this ‘dream team’ together with Caterpillar, we are uniquely positioned to leverage the key Cat distribution network in our territories and provide solutions of the highest value to our customers.”

Briggs & Stratton said it will move existing manufacturing from its Newbern, Ten., facility to its McDonough, Ga., site and will also close its Ostrava, Czech Republic, plant and shift production to the company's Murray, Kentucky facility. In a related move, Briggs & Stratton will reduce capacity by reconfiguring and idling certain assets at its Poplar Bluff, Mo., facility.

The Newbern facility currently manufactures walk-behind lawn mowers and snow throwers for the U.S. market. Ostrava and Poplar Bluff build engines for the outdoor power equipment industry. Operations in Ostrava are expected to wind down by March 15 and operations at Newbern will end by approximately May 15, the company said.

"We continually evaluate our manufacturing footprint as we consider productivity and efficiency gains along with changes in the markets we serve,” said Todd Teske, Briggs & Stratton CEO. “Since 2004, the U.S. lawn and garden market has declined over 33%. This significant and prolonged market decline is unlike any other this industry has seen in decades.

"In addition, we have taken actions over the past year to reconfigure and reduce our capacity and costs at our Poplar Bluff, Mo., engine plant. The actions announced today to consolidate our manufacturing footprint further, will better align our production capacity to the markets we serve.”