British Open, Doosan Bobcat -- July 17, 2016

This is pretty cool. I almost missed it -- it went by very, very quickly. At about 8:10 a.m. Sunday, NBC, a commercial for The [British] Open by Doosan. I thought I saw the "Bobcat" symbol. A quick internet check to confirm: yes, Bobcat is part of the South Korean Doosan Group.

I knew that Bobcat had been acquired from Ingersoll Rand by a South Korean company some years ago but had forgotten the name of the latter. I've blogged about Bobcat several times on the Bakken blog.

At the Doosan site:

Doosan is the Official Patron of the “The Open Championship” which has been held for 145 years now. The Doosan Global Business Forum is also scheduled to be held during the championship to enhance global business cooperation through in-depth discussion regarding global management environments.

It's nice to see that Bobcat continues to highlight their North Dakota heritage.

Bobcat Company leads the industry in the design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of compact equipment for construction, rental, landscaping, agriculture, grounds maintenance, government, utility, industry and mining. We strive to empower our customers to do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.

Our roots are deep in North Dakota – having started here in 1947 – and we are the state’s largest manufacturer, with three North Dakota production facilities.

Global Bobcat manufacturing facilities are located in France, Czech Republic and China. Bobcat Company is a subsidiary of Doosan Bobcat Inc.

The history of Bobcat can be found at wiki.

Later: from an industry publication earlier this year, January 10, 2016 --

Doosan Infracore has been in a severe state of debt ever since 2007, when it bought compact OEM Bobcat from the US industrial conglomerate Ingersoll-Rand for $4.9bn shortly before the start of global economic recession and the subsequent downturn across global equipment sectors.

This has since been exacerbated but the ongoing economic uncertainty in China, which is severely dampening sales in extractive and construction industries where Doosan previously found favour.

From Reuters regarding the 2007 sale:

U.S. industrial conglomerate Ingersoll-Rand said it would sell its Bobcat machinery business and two other units to Doosan Infracore for $4.9 billion cash, the biggest ever overseas acquisition by a South Korean firm.

Shares in Doosan, formerly known as Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery, surged 14.9% on the move, which the company said will nearly double its sales and make it the world's seventh largest construction equipment maker.

A personal note: I am 100% sure I blogged about this sale back in 2007, but I can't find the post. But now, I remember. I started the blog in 2007, but one night in a moment of insanity, in 2009, I deleted two years of posts, the first iteration of the Million Dollar Way blog.

The reason I remember blogging about this sale was partly due to the fact that I felt one of the reasons for this acquisition by Doosan was access to a huge US distribution network. I see an analogy to recent talk about Harley Davidson possibly being up for sale. Or not.

And speaking of The [British] Open, Phil and Henrik have just started their final round. It looks like Phil will open with a birdie.