27.06.2011

Cramo acquires in Norway

Finnish based international rental company Cramo has acquired 100 percent of the shares in Norwegian rental company Stavdal Utleiesenter.

The Oslo based general equipment rental company had revenues last year of €7.3 million and employs 25 staff across four locations in Oslo, Rygge, Lillestrøm and Jessheim.

Stavdal will continue to operate as a separate company within the Cramo group with Knut Onstad acting as the general manager while founder and chairman Leif Stavdal, will work as a consultant to Cramo.

Finn Løkken senior vice president of Cramo Norway said: “Stavdal Utleiesenter is an interesting opportunity to us for several reasons. The company has a solid portfolio of small and medium-sized customers. Moreover, the company is well established in the Oslo region which is highly important to us. Stavdal also has complementing expertise and capabilities related to our business.”

Some historical background

The Stavdal name has been on a number of rental businesses in Norway and Sweden since Leif Stavdal and Anders Huitfeldt established Stavdal rental in Oslo in the early 1990’s. The company acquired the assets of Instant Norge in 1993 and shortly afterwards took over the JLG distribution for Norway. In 1999 Stavdal was acquired by Bautas after running into financial difficulties. In mid-2002 Bautas was acquired by Ramirent.

Rami sold its 50 percent stake in the Swedish arm of Stavdal in 2004 and incorporated the Norwegian lift fleet into its own.

Stavdal Utleiesenter was founded in January 2003 by Leif Stavdal and Knut Onstad among others. It added RS Maskiner Liftutleie of Lillestrøm later in 2003 and then moved into Rygge in 2004 and Jessheim in 2007. It offers a wide range of products for rental including aerial lifts and alloy scaffold towers.

Stavdal Lift Sweden still operates as a separate business under completely different owners.