Tractel Acquires Mast Climbing Work Platform Manufacturer Scanclimber
Tractel, a global specialist provider of working-at-height safety products and solutions has agreed to acquire Scanclimber Oy, a Finland-based provider of mast-climbing work platforms. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Scanclimber supplies rack-and-pinion vertical access products to more than 250 clients in Europe, North America and Asia. It has 225 employees, operates a production facility in Poland, and sells its products through a global network of distributors and sales agents. Industry forecasts expect MCWP products to be used increasingly as an alternative to traditional scaffolding as construction methods increasingly take into account workers’ health and safety. Scanclimber is well-positioned to benefit from this trend, the company said, because of the quality of its products and customer satisfaction scores.
The acquisition is an excellent strategic fit for Tractel, a global leader in vertical access solutions based on hoist-powered suspended platforms. The acquisition adds a wide range of rack-and-pinion ascending platforms to Tractel’s product offering. The acquisition will also strengthen Tractel’s Nordic presence by adding a strong set of Nordic customers and a local management team.
Since acquiring Tractel in October 2015, international private equity firm Cinven has supported an ambitious acquisition strategy with the purchase of Safety Products Group, Knot and now Scanclimber.
“Scanclimber represents a strategic and synergistic move for Tractel,” said Tractel CEO Philippe Gastineau. “The transaction offers the opportunity for Tractel to grow in the attractive mast climbing work platforms and the rack-and-pinion hoist segments. It will also strongly increase the group’s presence in the Nordics. We are looking forward to working with Eerik Nousiainen and the rest of the Scanclimber management to integrate the company within Tractel and build on each other’s strengths.”
Tractel is based in Luxembourg. Scanclimber is headquartered in Pirkkala, Finland.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.