Cramo buys Czech rental company

Finland's Cramo has signed a letter of intent to acquire 100% of the shares of Techniline spol.s.r.o. (Techniline) in the Czech Republic.

Techniline, headquartered in Prague and founded in 1990, operates depots in Prague, Pardubice and Ostrava, as well as in Bratislava and Kosice in Slovakia. Its sales were over €8 million in 2007 and it employs over 70 rental professionals.

Jarmo Laasanen, senior vice president of Cramo Other Europe, said, "This acquisition is perfectly aligned with Cramo's strategy in developing the second leg in the CEE area. Cramo will now reach the leading position in the rapidly growing and well-developed Czech rental market whilst also getting an entry into Slovakia, where rental penetration is still quite low. Techniline's long experience and strong customer base will support Cramo in continuing its fast growth in Central and Eastern Europe."

Zdenek Zilvar, president and chief executive officer of Techniline, said, "We are very pleased to join Cramo Group. We are sharing the same view of rental business development and with combined resources we can serve our customers even better."

Cramo said that Techniline's key management will continue to run the Czech company and that Cramo will integrate its existing operations into Techniline.

The closing of the purchase is subject to finalizing certain technical issues and is expected during March 2008.