Caterpillar Inc. said on Monday that it had broken ground in Xuzhou, China, for a plant that would build large excavators and that it had opened a plant there to make small and medium-size excavators.
Excavators are modern-day steam-shovels. They often have buckets and are used by builders to dig in confined areas.
Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, also said it would buy Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group’s 15.87 percent ownership interest in their joint venture.
If Chinese regulators approve the transaction, Caterpillar will own the company. Caterpillar did not release terms of the transaction.
