07.09.2012

MBO at ReachMaster/Skako

Ebbe Christensen president of US based Skako Lift /Reachmaster has purchased the company in a Management Buy Out from the Skako group of Denmark.

Christensen has formed a new company ReachMaster Inc, which has taken over the assets and activities of Skako Lift Inc, including the representation of the ReachMaster Falcon, Bluelift and Denka spider and trailer lifts.
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Ebbe Christensen

The buyout is the final step in Skako’s decision in 2011 to divest itself of all its interests in the aerial lift market, to focus on its core businesses within the concrete production equipment industry.

Last August the Falcon spider lift manufacturing division in Odense, Denmark, essentially the Falck Schmidt spider lift business, was subject to a management buyout by managing director Finn Schlitterlau and financial director Thyge Mikkelsen - trading as TCA Lift.

The Denka lift designs and tooling were later sold to four independent investors trading as Denka Lift Denmark A/S, that business has since been declared bankrupt, after struggling with moving production back to its traditional Holbæk facility.
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ReachMaster started its operations in Houston, Texas in 2001 as a subsidiary of Falck Schmidt, which merged with Denka Lift in 2005, becoming World Lift and then Skako Lift.

Christensen said: “We’re very pleased with this agreement and the opportunities it represents, including going back to our well-known ReachMaster name. It provides us with a new platform, where we can renew our focus as a company that again has compact lift sales and service as its primary business”.

“Since we pioneered the compact lift (spider lift) segment in the US more than 10 years ago we’ve seen a positive and growing interest for the segment in the market. We believe this new setup will allow us to better utilise our extensive experience while taking advantage of these new opportunities."

"While the MBO efforts obviously have been on-going for some time, it was paramount for us to both secure our American operation as well as the manufacturer support needed to make the change completely seamless from a customer perspective."

"This includes both technical service and warranty, which will remain unchanged and the support from our manufacturers has been absolutely fantastic. With several new product releases coming up this fall, this was the perfect timing for us, so we’re quite excited.”

With the buyout complete there will be no changes to name, staff, location or business practices.

Vertikal Comment

This last stage in the disposal of the aerial lift business by Skako has taken a lot longer than expected, but ended up with the right result - at least for TCA Lift, Christensen and the ReachMaster team.

Christensen has virtually built this business from scratch and taken it through numerous tough challenges, from the merger with Denka, through some crazy episodes with Skako, to the loss of the Hinowa distribution rights after it signed an exclusive agreement with JLG.

Through all of this he has continued and persisted without appearing to get over excited, and each time eventually come out on top. He deserves to have acquired this business on decent terms and we wish him the very best for the future.