Astec Industries acquires Canadian wood pellet machinery business

CHATTANOOGA, TN, Sept. 30, 2009 (PRNewswire-FirstCall) - Astec Industries, Inc. announced today the acquisition of Industrial Mechanical & Integration ("IMI") located in Walkerton Ontario, Canada. IMI is a small company with unique machine technology used to make wood pellets.

Rick Minke, President of IMI and key employees have agreed to remain with the company to further develop and promote this new technology. IMI has been testing the technology for two years and is now making the first group of production machines.

According to Dr. J. Don Brock, Chairman and Chief Executive of Astec Industries, Inc., "We are excited about the potential of this new technology. Conventional pellet production machines were designed for easy to use materials and do not always work well with a wide variety of wood species. With this acquisition, Astec Industries, Inc. can provide a one stop solution to customers desiring to own a pellet plant that can process material from round wood all the way to the finished product. We are well positioned to be a turnkey supplier to the growing wood pellet industry. Many companies in the Astec Industries, Inc. family of companies already make components needed by this market. The acquisition of IMI is in line with our continuing effort to grow the renewable fuel portion of our business. We believe wood pellets will be an important part of the renewable energy standards that are being adopted in the USA and around the world."