Thor Acquires Bison Coach for $16.7M in Cash

Thor Industries, Inc.

today announced that, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, it has acquired the net assets of specialty trailer manufacturer Bison Coach from an operating unit of Navistar, Inc.  The purchase price, which will be paid in cash, is approximately $16.7 million, subject to post-closing adjustments. "We are pleased to welcome Bison Coach to the Thor team.  The addition of Bison adds depth in a new specialty market of equine trailers equipped with living quarters," said Bob Martin, Thor President and Chief Executive Officer.  "We believe there are solid opportunities to leverage the design and distribution strengths of our core RV businesses to Bison's existing products and markets, resulting in better growth in revenues and profitability.  Bringing Thor's strength in designing innovative living spaces in the RV business to Bison's living quarters makes perfect sense and should help drive additional improvements in Bison's products.  The new Bison subsidiary will report to Scott Tuttle, President of Thor's Livin' Lite subsidiary." Founded in 1984, Milford, Indiana-based Bison is known for its rugged, high-quality and affordable specialty trailers.  In 2003, Bison began adding living quarter conversions to their production process resulting in the development of a