Toro Company has announced that it is to buy the Boss line of professional snowplows and ice-treatment spreaders from Northern Star Industries for a reported $227 million

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, the company said.

Boss, which is based in Iron Mountain, Michigan, generates about $125 million in annual revenue from snowplows, salt and sand spreaders and other ice removal accessories for light- and medium-duty trucks, ATVs and loaders.

In a statement, Toro chief executive Mike Hoffman said the acquisition will add to Toro’s current line of snow throwers, chiefly aimed at residential and commercial customers. The emphasis on snow gives Toro a counterweight to its bigger business in lawn and golf-green maintenance equipment.

With Boss, Hoffman said, “We will gain another strong professional contractor brand, a portfolio of reliable counter-seasonal equipment, efficient manufacturing operations and a well established and broad North American distribution channel for these products.”

Boss represents the latest move by Toro to expand its product portfolio.

Last year, Toro bought a small Chinese micro-irrigation firm to help it tap into a “critical growth market.” In 2012, it entered the construction equipment market when it bought key assets from Astec Underground and Stone Construction.

Toro, based in Bloomington, exceeded $2 billion in annual revenue for the first time last year and celebrated its 100th anniversary this summer.