Cramo sells operated plant division to Peab

Cramo and Nordic contractor Peab have strengthened their cooperation with two new agreements. In Sweden, Cramo is selling its operated plant business to Peab and in Finland, Cramo will buy most of the rental fleet of Peab's Finnish rental subsidiary, Lambertsson Oy.

The two companies have also signed five year exclusive rental agreements covering Sweden and Finland.

The sale of the €15 million turnover operated plant division, Cramo Entreprenadmaskiner, means that Cramo will no longer rent heavy equipment with operators. The division had 34 employees and a fleet of 35 wheel loaders, excavators and telehandlers mainly in the 10 to 20 t sizes.

A spokesman for Cramo told IRN that this did not mean that Cramo had taken the general decision to exit heavy equipment rentals, but rather to exit ‘with operators' rentals.

Erik Bengtsson, senior vice president and head of Cramo Sweden, said Cramo Entreprenadmaskiner was profitable, but that "Peab can offer the company good possibilities to grow more rapidly than hitherto in Cramo - internally within Peab as well as externally."

In Finland, meanwhile, Cramo will acquire the equipment rental, modular space and rental services activities of Peab subsidiary Lambertsson Oy. Lambertsson will retain only its tower crane, hoist and mast climbing work platform rental businesses.

The deal will add 15 employees to Cramo's Finnish operation. Lambertsson Oy has three rental depots - in Nurmijärvi, Ylöjärvi and Turku - and the fleet range is similar to Cramo's.

"Peab is a major customer and partner to Cramo Group in several markets" said Mr Tatu Hauhio, senior vice president and head of Cramo Finland. "In Finland we have a long and strong relationship which is now further deepened through this agreement.

There will be speculation that Cramo and Peab may be discussing a similar arrangement in Sweden, where Peab owns a much larger rental company, Lambertsson Sverige, which reported revenues of €97 million last year. A Cramo spokesman would not comment on whether there were discussions ongoing and said it would be wrong to jump to conclusions.

Commenting on the Finland deal, Cramo's chief executive officer, Vesa Koivula, said; "This is our fourth substantial outsourcing agreement during the past half year, which is obviously positive news for the rental industry and for Cramo in particular".