23.06.2010

Partner switch at Weldex

NVM has sold its investment in UK based crawler crane company Weldex to Dunedin private equity in a deal that Values the company at £100 million.

The secondary buy-out leaves owner and chief executive Dougie McGilvray in place and continuing to expand the business.

McGilvray founded Weldex in 1979 and built it into the UK’s largest crawler crane rental company, employing 102 from its headquarters in Inverness and depot in Alfreton, Engand. The company also supplies associated lifting equipment including mobile cranes, forklifts, loader cranes and trailers.

Mark Ligertwood, who led the buy-out for Dunedin has joined the Weldex board of directors and said: “We have tracked the progress of this business for a considerable time and have been impressed at the way it has continued to grow through the recession by focusing on large, complex infrastructure projects and the offshore wind power industry. It is extremely well positioned to play a vital role in the construction of new offshore wind capacity over the next 20 years.“

McGilvray, added: “We have a strong order book and good visibility on forward orders for the larger cranes, particularly for those being used in the renewable energy and power plant sectors for which demand is expected to increase in the UK. Our headquarters remain in Inverness and the McGilvray family remain fully involved in the day to day running of the business.”