08.01.2026

Berto /Eurolev acquires MG Location

French transport and logistics company Groupe Berto has acquired MG Location, a general rental business based in Cernay, on the west side of Mulhouse in Alsace, Eastern France. MG will join Berto’s main rental business Eurolev.

MG Location also operates from branches in Altkirch, Bartenheim and Colmar with a dozen employees and revenues in the region of €2 million. Its 500 unit fleet includes a wide range of aerial work platforms and telehandlers.

Martine Gubiani established MG Location in 1993 to rent a range of machines to local contractors. The business was acquired in 2008 by Dominique Killherr, following Gubiani’s retirement, and has continued to grow. Killherr has now reached retirement age himself and has been looking to sell the business to one of the country’s major rental groups to ensure its continuation. He will remain on board for around three months to help ensure a smooth transition.

Eurolev was established in 1989 by Jean Claude Fretiere to rent out aerial work platforms, adding cranes in 1992. The company was acquired by Thierry Jammes and private equity firm Ever Capital in 2008, at which point it had revenues of €16.2 million and operated from seven locations, with 82 employees. They sold it on to the transport and logistics business Berto group in 2012, the group’s first venture into the rental business.

In 2016, the group acquired Altiloc and its three locations, followed in 2021 by the acquisition of spider crane rental company Atna in the greater Paris (Île de France) region, adding the aerial lift fleet of AS Manutention in 2022.

Today, Eurolev is managed by Frédéric Besnier and runs a fleet of well over 2,000 units with around 125 people at 19 locations. Annual revenues are said to exceed €28 million. The addition of MG Location will, we assume, have taken this to 23 locations, 2,500 machines, around 150 employees and revenues of well over €30 million. It has said that it plans to add more equipment and recruit additional staff, while adding larger aerial work platforms and higher capacity cranes in the coming year.

Berto said: “This acquisition is fully in line with our strategy to develop the equipment division, a priority affirmed in our strategic plan and strengthens our presence in the Grand Est region thanks to a solid network of customers and local partners. We welcome the MG Location teams to the group and look forward it adding confidence, proximity and optimism.”

Family owned and run Groupe Berto was established in Avignon in 1963 by Emile Berto as a one-man transport company, a man with a van if you prefer. Today, it has more than 5,500 employees, with revenues of €540 million and a fleet of 22,000 vehicles and machines based across 106 locations.
A second generation in the form of Pierre-Yves Berto joined the business in 1982 and now manages the company. Over the past 30 years, it has made more than 60 acquisitions.