ONE of John Deere's largest United States dealer groups, RDO Equipment, last week acquired Queensland John Deere dealership Vanderfield.
RDO operates 37 US dealership locations in nine States and will pick up 13 branches, including two in the Northern Territory and one at Kununurra, in Western Australia.
Established in 1968 by Ron Offutt, RDO is the world's largest John Deere dealer, with more than 90 branches in the US along with holdings in Australia, Mexico, Africa, Russia and the Ukraine.
Earlier this year RDO took over as the John Deere construction and forestry equipment dealer for all Australian States except WA, where that franchise is held by AFGRI Equipment.
RDO Australia chief executive officer Julie Whitcombe said along with taking ownership of Vanderfield, the new company had also completed the acquisition of Australian construction dealer Vermeer Equipment Holdings, following its purchase of a 50 per cent stake in the business earlier this year.
Ms Whitcombe said while the final acquisition of Vanderfield was completed last week, RDO had been an investor in the company for about seven years.
"RDO have been a strong partner with the Vandersee family and we will be retaining the Vanderfield brand," she said.
"The Vandersee family has built an excellent reputation in the markets they operate in, with the customers and with staff.
"And we will benefit from the deep experience of Bruce Vandersee, Peter Pullan and Ian Jensen, who will be shareholders and directors of the RDO Australia Group."
Bruce Vandersee will step down as CEO for the company, transitioning to director and shareholder of the newly-formed RDO group.
The sale sends another signal of the continuing rationalisation of machinery dealerships in favour of major corporate companies.
In WA, AFGRI Equipment manages 14 John Deere branches and is the largest John Deere dealer in the Southern Hemisphere, with 44 branches in South Africa, as well as international operations in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Botswana and Australia.
Current speculation is that it is a front runner to acquire fellow John Deere dealership Ag Implements which would raise its WA branches to 20, giving it complete dominance of the Wheatbelt.
But with RDO's latest move, it raises the possibility of it having an interest in AFGRI.