WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderDeal with Sweden Opens Door for Rockford Businesses to Expand Overseas

Deal with Sweden Opens Door for Rockford Businesses to Expand Overseas

ROCKFORD - Leading Edge Hydraulics has reached a business deal to establish a new company that will be based in Sweden.

The new company will be called Leading Edge Hydraulics AB and will be based in Lidköping, Sweden. It will service Leading Edge's customer base in Europe, providing equipment for companies like John Deere, Hitachi, Caterpillar and Haldex.

The newly formed company is expected to create new jobs for both companies. "This is very exciting for us because it is our first step into making a foreign direct investment. We've been exporting for several years and our customers have been asking us to fully service their needs globally," said Leading Edge Hydraulics Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Russ Dennis.

The new company will start shipping product early next year. Dennis said, "We're looking very much forward to be able to create this new joint venture in Sweden, to be able to serve European markets and we'll see where it goes from beyond there as well."

But this deal has been a couple years in the making, since Rockford leaders took part in Stockholm's Entrepreneur's Day (E-Day) in 2006.  That's when Mayor Larry Morrissey networked with Lidköping's Mayor.  Morrissey said, "That's a great start but ultimately, I think this is a message to other Rockford businesses that those opportunities are here."

The Rockford delegation in Sweden include Winnebago County Board Chair Scott Christiansen and representatives from the Rockford Area Economic Development Council.

Now Mayor Morrissey's on board a plane to china to meet with businesses and government officials in several cities in China.  Janyce Fadden, Rockford Area Economic Development Council President, said the Mayor will meet with the "Civil Aviation Authority of China and that meeting is to talk about opening up our airport as a potential landing place for Chinese aircraft."

This is the first big news to come from the Rockford delegation's trip to Sweden and China.

13 News will continue to bring you updates on the trip over the next two weeks, both online at www.wrex.com and on 13 News. We have also linked up to the blogs for the trip. Right now the Sweden blog is the only active one. You can access that on the left side of this story.