“It won’t change our buying plans...”

Major aerial platform owners reacted with calm to the news of JLG’s acquisition with all those contacted by Access International not unhappy to see it become part of a bigger group.

Kevin Appleton, chief executive of Lavendon Group, said that it wasn’t the “most obvious of marriages...but that should mean there is limited operational overlap, therefore limited scope or desire for integration cost savings and, consequently, minimal disruption in the customer facing part of the business.

“JLG have always been a responsible supplier to the access rental industry and if this deal means they will have more firepower to cement their position then that can probably only be good for the customer end of the industry.”

Pierre-Yves Lecat, general manager of Kiloutou in France, told AI that the main thing was that “competition stays open among the big operators, and it is rather positive to see them part of bigger companies. JLG is now part of Oshkosh as Genie is already part of Terex. Why be afraid of that? It won’t change our intentions of buying or not JLG equipment.”

Meanwhile in North America, Mike Disser, vice president of marketing at NES Rentals, based in Chicago, told AI that he didn’t anticipate any big impact; “JLG has a great name and a recognised brand: I don’t see that that’s going to change.”

In the UK, Steve Shaughnessy, managing director of A-Plant’s speciality businesses division, said the potential infusion of capital from Oshkosh could “present an opportunity to respond to the global imbalance between supply and demand for access equipment...I think that the probability of a negative impact for European buyers and users of access equipment is very slight”.