12.12.2008

Changes at Riwal

Riwal the Dutch based international sales and rental company has boosted its equity and strengthed its senior management team. The key elements of the restructuring include the buy out of Jaap Schalekamp by Doron Livnat and Dick Schalekamp, the injection of new capital and the formation of a new five man board of directors.

Livnat has boosted his investment in the company from 33 percent to 50 percent though his investment company – ProDelta while Jaap Schalekamp, 52, has stepped down as co-owner/director after 34 years in the family business. He leaves the company on good terms and in good health and will dedicate his time to his family, hobbies as well as other business ventures outside of Riwal.

In conjunction with the ownership changes, Riwal has announced changes to the organisation and management structure as well as several appointments to strengthen the company and continue its successful growth strategy.

The board of directors will comprise five members as follows:

Doron Livnat as chairman of the board
Dick Schalekamp as chief executive officer
Coert Nodelijk, becomes chief operational officer, he has been with Riwal for 13 years, most recently as operations manager in the Netherlands.

Willem Ledeboer joins the board from the corporate banking sector with management experience in large, multinational companies. He will use his expertise to introduce change processes and to translate and transfer the general policy to the individual operations worldwide.

A fifth director and chief financial officer will be appointed in due course.
A team of ‘international managers will comprise:

Hans Schmelling as manager finance & administration North West Europe (The Netherlands, France, Scandinavia) he will be responsible for financial planning, record-keeping, controlling and risk management for the aforementioned countries and companies.

Jeff Eisenberg becomes finance manager for the rest for the world, he will be responsible for the financial management for the Riwal companies and ventures outside North West Europe, focussing on the integration of the financial administration and the funding of operations in all ‘new’ Riwal countries.

Rik Maaskant has been named as manager international marketing & communications, he has worked for Riwal since 1998 as marketing manager in the Netherlands.

Jacques Catinot, manager international sales used equipment and re-rental will combine this with his position as managing partner of Riwal France, where he started after a career at Genie Industries
Please register to see all images

(L-R) Dick Schalekamp, Craig Paylor of JLG, Doron Livnat, Jaap Schalekamp and founder Dick Schalekamp-Snr celebrate 40 years

Dick Schalekamp senior started Riwal in 1968 as the Dutch subsidiary of mobile crane rental company Richards & Wallington. Schalekamp bought out the business in 1980 and and then changed the name to Riwal in 1987 before passing the business to his sons Jaap and Dick in 1989.

Over the next 10 years Riwal established itself as a leading access equipment rental company in The Netherlands. The next change came in 2000 when business partner Doron Livnat bought into the company taking a 33 percent stake in order to support the Schalekamp brothers’ pan-European ambitions.

The company celebrated its 40th anniversary at the recent APEX show in Maastricht.