CNH Industrial buys Augmenta to boost crop treatment accuracy
13/03/2023 12:06
MILAN, March 13 (Reuters) - Italian-American vehicle
maker CNH Industrial CNHI.MI has acquired U.S. company
Augmenta, valuing its strategic partner at $110 million, in a
bid to help farmers harness technology to increase the
effectiveness of crop spraying.
CNH, a maker of farm machinery and construction equipment
sees so-called precision technologies as a key competitive
feature in its agriculture business, its largest one.
The group, whose revenue topped $25 billion in 2022, has
said it was pursuing an estimated contribution from precision
technology components of $1 billion to this year's net sales.
The deal is aimed at speeding up development of Augmenta's
technologies based on sensor-detected data during the spraying
process, CNH said in a statement.
Augmenta's work in this area also includes the development
of a multispectral camera and software that monitors a machine's
operating environment and acts directly via the machine, it
added.
It offers farmers savings in the amounts of herbicide,
fungicide, fertiliser and other plant growth treatments.
CNH already owned a 10.5% stake in Augmenta through its
venture capital arm CNH Industrial Ventures.
"This is an important development for our Agriculture
business that will further support our dealers by
differentiating our equipment through value-added technology,"
said CNH's Chief Digital Product Officer Parag Garg.
Augmenta will operate within the group's U.S. unit Raven and
will maintain its existing employees and offices in Greece and
U.S..
The deal, which will be funded with available cash, is
expected to be closed in the first quarter, CNH Industrial said.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari
Editing by Keith Weir)
((giulio.piovaccari@thomsonreuters.com))