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Bucyrus, the once-great construction brand, still a giant in the mining world, is going away.

Earlier today, Caterpillar Inc. received regulatory clearance from China to proceed with its $8.8-billion acquisition of Bucyrus Inc., marking the largest deal in Cat history.

As I speculated in a blog post last year (see item No. 4), the deal will eventually result in the "Caterpillarization" of Bucyrus' massive machines, including a phase-out of the brand.

We'll learn more about the deal in the coming weeks, but we do know that Caterpillar's executive team has carefully weighed the impact of this deal.

Read more about it here, from Caterpillar's website (PDF).