CNH Industrial, parent of the Case IH. New Holland, Steyr and Flexi-Coil farm equipment brands, has signed a cash deal to buy satellite positioning tech firm Hemisphere GNSS, parent of the Outback Guidance aftermarket GPS, precision ag and autosteer business.
CNH announced Thursday it will pay $175 million for Hemisphere, which has been owned since 2013 by Chinese geospatial tech firm Beijing Unistrong (all figures US$).
CNH described the deal for Hemisphere as “a critical step that advances our automated and autonomous solutions for agriculture and construction.”
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The machinery maker has undertaken a major push into autonomous ag — most significantly in 2021 with the $2.1 billion purchase of U.S. precision ag tech firm Raven Industries, whose products include the Canadian-developed OMNiPower (formerly DOT) autonomous equipment system.
CNH also bought control of U.S.-Greek precision ag and field analysis tech firm Augmenta earlier this month, and a minority stake in U.S. ag sensor firm EarthOptics in January.
Hemisphere, which was spun off from U.S.-based AgJunction — now an arm of Kubota Corp. —Â acquired the Kansas-based Outback Guidance business from AgJunction in 2018.
Combined with its Raven business’ capabilities, CNH said Thursday, “this development gives us full control of our precision and navigation technologies.”
“Having Hemisphere’s technology in-house will enable us to accelerate a broad range of our precision technology programs, providing our customers with immediate productivity-enhancing solutions,” Marc Kermisch, CNH’s chief digital and information officer, said in Thursday’s release. “It will also increase the long-term competitiveness and flexibility of our agriculture and construction portfolio.”
Hemisphere will, however, continue to operate as a standalone business through its operations in Canada, the U.S. and Australia, CNH said.
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., Hemisphere’s Canadian operations include a site in Calgary and its Outback Guidance site at Oak Bluff, Man., just southwest of Winnipeg.
Hemisphere’s global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and related electronics and software provide “pinpoint accuracy” for agriculture, construction, mining and marine tools, CNH said. The company’s tech includes circuit chips, circuit boards, radio frequency signal processing, navigation algorithms and satellite-based correction designs.
Hemisphere CEO Farlin Halsey said the combination with CNH “enables us to further enhance our technology and product development” in those core markets and to “directly integrate our technology with CNH Industrial’s world-class equipment.”
The deal, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, is expected to close sometime in the third quarter of 2023. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
