ARGO SpA is a family-owned Italian

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

owned by the Morra family that manufactures

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that ...

. Founded by Valerio Morra in 1980, the company is based in

Fabbrico Fabbrico ( Reggiano: or ; locally ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about northeast of Reggio Emilia. Fabbrico borders the following mu ...

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. ARGO main products are

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

and combine harvesters.

History

It was founded by Valerio Morra in 1980 with his purchase of MBS Spa. In 1987, ARGO purchased Pegoraro Spa of

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

. Sixty-six percent of Landini was purchased in 1989 from

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of the United Kingdom. It was based in ...

, with additional shares purchased in 1994. In 1995, the tractor business was expanded with the purchase of Valpadana Spa, followed by S.E.P. Spa and

Laverda Laverda (''Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli'') was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative. The Laverda brand was abso ...

in 2000 from

CNH Global CNH Industrial N.V. is an Italian-American multinational corporation with global headquarters in Basildon, United Kingdom, but controlled and mostly owned by the multinational investment company Exor, which in turn is controlled by the Agnelli ...

. S.E.P. manufactures small, specialty tractors and equipment, while Laverda manufactures combines and hay-equipment. The remaining 9% of Landini that was owned by AGCO was purchased by ARGO in 2000. 2001 saw further growth with the purchase of the McCormick name and tractor factory in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, after the merger of

Case IH Case IH is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. It was created in 1985 when Tenneco bought selected assets of the agricultural division from International Harvester and merged it into its J.I. Case Company (IH then became Navistar).T ...

and Fiat's

New Holland Ag New Holland is a global full-line agricultural machinery manufacturer. New Holland agricultural products include tractors, combine harvesters, balers, forage harvesters, self-propelled sprayers, haying tools, seeding equipment, hobby tractors, ...

into

. The regulatory bodies reviewing the merger required some factories to be sold, which included

from Fiat, and McCormick Tractors International from

.Page 6
2007 saw ARGO selling 50% of Laverda to AGCO. AGCO bought the remaining 50% of Laverda in late 2010/early 2011, thereby also acquiring

Fella-Werke AGCO GmbH is a German manufacturer of agricultural equipment based in Feucht, Germany, located just southwest of Nuremberg in Bavaria. It was established in 1918 as a harrow manufacturing company, and its product line has expanded since. Curre ...

Brands

ARGO manufactures or distributes the following brands of agricultural machinery: * Landini *

* McCormick * Valpadana * S.E.P. * Pegoraro

References

{{reflist

External links

ARGO SpA
ARGO SpA Agricultural machinery manufacturers of Italy Tractor manufacturers of Italy Italian brands Italian companies established in 1980 Holding companies established in 1980 Holding companies of Italy Companies based in the Province of Reggio Emilia

History

Brands

See also

References

External links