Montana Tractors Purchases Farmtrac

North Carolina based Farmtrac North America was sold to Montana Tractors for $14.1 million. Farmtrac shut down operations in January of 2008, laying off 180 employees. The company entered receivership in March with more than $50 million in debt, much of it owed to Textron Financial. Montana has not announced specific plans for Farmtrac, but it is expected that the Farmtrac facilities will be used as a distribution hub for the East Coast.

Farmtrac traces its history to Long Manufacturing of Tarboro, North Carolina. Long built a single tractor model, the A, in the late 1940s. Long then began importing tractors and re-branding them. Long was purchased in 1998 by Escorts of India, which changed the name to Farmtrac. Both Escorts and South Korean LS tractors were being sold by Farmtrac when the company stopped work in January.

Montana Tractors has a similar business model as Farmtrac, importing tractors from Asia and Eastern Europe for final assembly and sales in the United States. Montana outbid LS Mtron, one of Farmtrac's major suppliers. The purchase provides Montana with the Farmtrac property and facilities while blocking a competitor from reviving Farmtrac.