McHale to take over Komatsu UK network as Marubeni era ends after 53 years

The Irish distributor acquires Marubeni-Komatsu and will trade as McHale Komatsu from January 2026, as Komatsu reshapes its UK–Ireland distribution model.

Komatsu’s construction and utility equipment dealership in the United Kingdom is heading for its biggest shake-up in half a century.

From January 2026, subject to regulatory approval, Ireland’s McHale Plant Sales will acquire Marubeni-Komatsu Ltd (MKL) and become Komatsu’s new distributor for construction and utility equipment across the UK. The business will trade as McHale Komatsu in the British market, while Komatsu Europe takes a minority shareholding in McHale to cement the partnership.

For customers, the headline is simple: the Komatsu badge stays, the branch network stays, and warranties and maintenance contracts stay in place. The ownership and distribution strategy behind that support, however, is changing quite a bit.

End of an era for Marubeni-Komatsu

Marubeni-Komatsu has been Komatsu’s sole construction and utility distributor in the UK since 1972, operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Japanese trading house Marubeni. 

From its main office and parts hub in Redditch, Worcestershire, and regional product support centres in Slough, Hamilton, Chester-le-Street and Cardiff, MKL built a dense sales and service network with dedicated area managers and product support reps covering every UK region, backed by utility sub-dealers such as The Attachment Company and Johnsons of Cheadle.

A Komatsu profile on Marubeni notes that the Redditch warehouse alone holds around 20,000 parts line items, underlining how much of Komatsu’s UK aftermarket is physically routed through this site.

That infrastructure will not disappear. Under the deal announced on 25 November 2025:

Ownership of Marubeni-Komatsu Ltd transfers from the Marubeni Group to McHale Plant Sales on 1 January 2026.
MKL’s branches and product support centres will be maintained, with McHale committing to continuity of service.  All existing warranties and maintenance contracts will continue to be honoured.

Who is McHale Plant Sales?

McHale is not a newcomer. Founded in 1952 and still led by the McHale family alongside managing director Tim Shanahan, the company has been Komatsu’s distributor in the Republic of Ireland for about 30 years.

From depots in Birdhill (Co. Tipperary) and Rathcoole near Dublin, McHale covers the Irish construction, quarrying, recycling, forestry and agricultural sectors, selling and supporting Komatsu construction and forestry equipment as well as Metso, Jonsson and MDS crushing and screening brands, Prinoth tracked carriers and a range of attachments.

Komatsu’s relationship with McHale has recently deepened further. Earlier this month, Komatsu Ltd, via Komatsu Europe, moved to acquire joint control of McHale Plant Sales, a transaction notified to the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

Why Komatsu is changing its UK distribution model

Komatsu’s European distribution strategy has long been a mix of wholly owned sales subsidiaries in a few key markets and independent distributors elsewhere, often multi-country partners. An Off-Highway Research profile notes that France, Spain and Poland are handled by Komatsu-owned companies, while most other territories are covered by independent distributors who sometimes manage several countries.

McHale evolves from an Irish dealer into a multi-country partner responsible for Ireland and the entire UK, mirroring how other large distributors represent Komatsu in more than one territory.
Hybrid control model

By taking a minority share in McHale and joint control in Ireland, Komatsu sits closer to the steering wheel than with a purely independent dealer, but still benefits from local entrepreneurial management and multi-brand experience.
One network, two islands

Having a single dealer group for both Ireland and the UK should make it easier to coordinate large cross-border fleets, used equipment flows, and support for national and regional contractors who operate on both sides of the Irish Sea.

At the same time, Komatsu retains a dedicated UK distributor structure instead of folding the market into a wholly owned Komatsu UK sales subsidiary, even though the UK already hosts Komatsu manufacturing at Birtley for standard crawler excavators of 22 tonnes and above.

The Komatsu Care maintenance program and Komtrax telematics support will continue to be delivered through the same dealer channels, but under McHale Komatsu branding. 
MKL’s field Technology Solutions Experts, who support intelligent Machine Control (iMC) dozers and excavators, are likely to be retained within the new structure, preserving a decade of know-how in 3D machine control support in the UK.

The remit of McHale Komatsu covers Komatsu construction and utility equipment: excavators, dozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks and compact line, plus used machinery.

McHale’s existing experience with quarrying and crushing equipment, and with forestry machinery, means the group already knows how to support capital-intensive fleets in aggregates, civils and forestry, the same sectors that dominate Komatsu’s UK base. 

As Komatsu rolls out more hybrid and battery-electric models and pushes digital services such as iMC and Smart Construction, having a single, tech-literate distributor spanning UK and Ireland reduces the number of interfaces needed to deploy new technology at scale.

In the longer term, the real test of this new distribution strategy will be how seamlessly McHale Komatsu can support increasingly digital, low-emission machine fleets, and how effectively it can leverage a combined Ireland–UK footprint at a time when OEMs are leaning hard on dealers to deliver technology, not only iron.