30.05.2007

Riwal exits cranes

Riwal has agreed to sell its crane rental business to Sarens Netherlands in order to focus all of its efforts on access rental and sales. The deal, which was concluded last night will complete on July first.

The transaction includes 30 mobile cranes and forty Riwal crane employees who will transfer to Sarens Dutch headquarters which like Riwal is located in Dordrecht.

Riwal has decided to focus all of its efforts on building its core access rental business with clear aims to become the largest access rental comapny in Europe.
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(L-R)Martin Verzijland of Sarens with Jaap Schalekamp on closing the deal that moves the Riwal crane business to Sarens

The deal the deal allows the Belgian based Sarens group to expand its Dutch fleet rapidly with young cranes and some well respected operators. It takes its Netherlands crane fleet to 115 units, 75 of them mobiles, the largest of which is a 700 tonner and 40 crawlers with capacities up to 250 tonnes, The combined business will have 200 employees.

The Riwal access rental fleet now numbers almost 8,000 units putting it in contention for the number two slot in Europe behind Lavendon.

The company says that it has plans to invest €100 million this year, it recently purchased the Cummins building opposite its Dordrecht location in order to provide more workshop and storage space while it seeks a site to build a new purpose built Headquarters.

Riwal emerged from the Dutch branch of Richards & Wallington when its manager, Dick Schalekamp purchased it in 1980 after the UK company ran into difficulties.

The business was renamed Riwal and entered the access market in 1987. Dick’s sons Jaap and Dick took over the day to day management in 1989.

Riwal began renting internationally in the 1990’s and in July 2000 Doron Livnat of Baris and Hovago bought 33 percent of the business in order to help fund a more rapid expansion. The company now has operations in Scandinavia, France, the Middle East and central Europe.

Sarens Netherlands grew out of De Kil, a crane rental business founded in 1980 by former Big Lift van Twist director Joop Smits and Jan Ottevanger, with three cranes.

In 1984 Sarens took a 50 percent interest in the business, buying the rest of the shares in 1988, by which time the company had a fleet of 25 cranes. It continued to operate under the De Kil name until 2004 when it rebranded the business as Sarens Netherlands.

Jaap Schalekamp said today: “We are glad to have found a new home for our people and cranes so close to ours. The first issue we agreed upon was to give the interest of our employees the highest priority. Although the farewell to our cranes and employees will be emotional, business-wise it is the best decision.

The result is a win-win situation for all parties concerned. Riwal can now fully concentrate on the aerial work platform business. We will invest even more because we still see a lot of opportunities to be successful with the Riwal formula in many countries and regions around the globe.”

Martin Verzijl Sarens Netherlands director added: “Acquiring the Riwal crane business fits into the ambition of Sarens to keep growing on the Dutch market. The expansion of our fleet makes it possible to enhance our actual service so we will be able to have a bigger package to serve our clients.

The very short period in which the transaction with Riwal was completed shows the ambitions, strengths and dynamics of both organizations. We are sure that the oiled train we consider to Riwal operation to be, perfectly fits in our organization. The input of the skilful and experienced Riwal crane drivers is highly valued by Sarens.”

Vertikal Comment

This move has been on the cards for the past three years as Riwal continued to expand rapidly in the access market. Although the company continued to invest in new cranes it has not made any attempt to increase its presence in the crane market for a long time.

Returns on cranes are not as good as those for lifts and the companies continuation in the market owed more to the owners emotional attachement to the business that any long term strategy.

With used crane prices at an all time high Riwal would have been able to obtain an excellent price for the business making the timing for an exit as good as it is likely to get.

Watch out for some bold expansion moves from Riwal in the year ahead,