Dealer News

Kibble Equipment, Inc. has begun building a 48,000-square-foot building for its Deere dealership in Sleepy Eye, Minn. The Bruggeman family owned the community’s Deere dealership for 75 years and sold to Kibble Equipment in 2013. The groundbreaking last week represented a victory for Sleepy Eye, which courted the new owners with an incentive package. Community leaders had worried that the dealership may consolidate with nearby operations in Nicollet and New Ulm.

Ag-Pro Companies announced last week the acquisition of eleven Deere dealerships in southern Texas. The Boston, Ga.-based company bought the dealerships from South Texas Implement and Tractor City. The announcement from Ag-Pro said the acquisition makes it one of the largest Deere dealers in the United States with 35 locations in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Texas.The combined company will have more than $650 million in annualized sales and employ more than 700 people. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

RDO Equipment Co., which is based in Fargo, N.D., has acquired three Deere construction stores in Montana. RDO officials say the stores are the first Deere dealerships for the company since 2010, and the first expansion into western Montana. The deal includes stores in Missoula and Kalispell, and a service center in Ronan. RDO currently has Deere construction stores in Billings, Bozeman and Great Falls. The stores were purchased from Triple W Equipment. S