06.08.2007

Eurloc adds Umesa

Euoloc, the private equity owned general rental company, that acquired Spanish access rental company Nacanco earlier this year, has purchased Barcelona based access rental company Umesa.

Umesa has a fleet of around 5,000 aerial lifts operating from 15 depots and with 450 employees and is the second largest access rental company in Spain with revenues in 2006 of around €49 million.

The combined Euroloc-Umesa fleet will exceed 8,000 lifts.

Gaspar Puig founder and managing director of UMESA will join Euroloc’s board of directors, while Pedro Torres, who joined Euroloc with Nacanco will be general manager of the merged aerial lift business.

Puig said; “This is a landmark acquisition and I look forward to joining the Euroloc project which will have a major impact on the European machine rental market and play a significant role in the consolidation of our industry.”

Juan Dionis, a director of Euroloc, said: “This transaction will increase the siz of our company by 30 percent and is in line with our strategy of market consolidation. The integration of Umesa into the Group is will be a fundamental pillar for our future growth, especially in the aerial work platform rental sector”.

Euroloc is owned by Boston based private equity company, Advent International Boston, which holds 80 percent of the equity.

Advent was a major investor in Loxam between 1999 and 2003, having helped organise the buy out of that business.

In less than six month it has grown Eurloc from revenues of around €75 million with 500 aerial lifts in its fleet to an expected revenues of €240 million in 2007 (including five months of Umesa) and one of the top ten aerial lift fleets in Europe.

See Euroloc takes Nacanco

Vertikal Comment

The consolidation of the European rental market is gathering pace, even if most of it is 'within country'. Deals such as this one will without doubt help create the building blocks for pan-European rental companies and more consolidation.

The biggest challenge comes when companies such as Eurloc look to expand outside of their home market. Few have really succeeded yet.

Some, such as Cramo and Ramirent have had significant success within a specific region, while others such as Loxam still struggle outside of their domestic base. None have managed to be successful across Europe as a whole on the North American model.

The interesting aspect of these consolidators is what happens when the private equity company wants to cash out. In Loxams case all went well, with the business becoming a privately held management owned operation.

In a number of examples in the USA though, the business ends up going from one private equity owner to another, while the business looses focus and smaller competitors take market share.