Caterpillar announced it has completed its acquisition of Bucyrus International. Caterpillar funded the acquisition, valued at approximately $8.8 billion (including net debt), using cash from its balance sheet and debt.

Caterpillar Group president Steve Wunning will have executive office accountability for Caterpillar’s Global Mining business, including Bucyrus. The Caterpillar Global Mining headquarters will be in Oak Creek, WI and will include three mining divisions reporting to Wunning.

“We are pleased to complete this acquisition and are proud to welcome Bucyrus employees to Caterpillar,” Wunning said. “We are bringing together the best people, the best products and the best facilities from both companies. This acquisition is all about growth and unprecedented opportunities. Combined with our aggressive product development and capacity expansion plans, it will position Caterpillar to offer a broad range of surface and underground mining products and solutions to our customers.”

Caterpillar vice president Dave Bozeman will lead the Integrated Manufacturing Operations Division, which will include the global manufacturing operations for Caterpillar mining products. The division has manufacturing operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

Caterpillar vice president Chris Curfman will lead the Mining Sales and Marketing Division, with global responsibility for maintaining and enhancing customer relationships, developing the global marketing strategy and ensuring future growth opportunities.

Luis de Leon, previously chief operating officer for Bucyrus, has been elected by the Caterpillar Board of Directors as a corporate vice president, and will lead the new Mining Products Division. The division will be responsible for overall mining product strategy development, product design and product sourcing.

In addition, several other Caterpillar divisions will provide critical support to the mining business. These divisions include the Large Power Systems Division, Advanced Components & Systems Division, Remanufacturing & Components Division, Parts Distribution & Logistics Division and Global Purchasing Division.

Bucyrus products will be branded as Caterpillar. All products will be sold and serviced by Cat dealers.

At the time of the acquisition announcement, Caterpillar expected to fund the deal through a combination of debt, up to $2 billion of new equity and cash. As a result of strong cash flow and balance sheet, Cat reported that it completed the acquisition without the need to issue equity. Caterpillar issued $4.5 billion of new debt on May 24, 2011, at historically low rates.