Kobe Steel – CNH Global N.V. venture
According to the information given by Kobe Steel, Kobelco Construction Machinery set up a joint venture with the US company CNH Global NV in Italy. The company will produce and sell crawler excavators. Kobelco, 80% owned by Kobe Steel has 20% shares in this venture while CNH has 75% and Sumitomo Corp. has 5%. It is reported that with this venture Kobe Steel, Kobelco Contruction Machinery and CNH together are forming a global construction equipment alliance.