Spain Sees Flurry Of Acquisitions

The Spanish rental market has seen a flurry of major acquisitions in the last two months with the two big players-GAM and Euroloc-both adding substantial aerial platform operations to their businesses and Loxam buying a small, Madrid-based company. Euroloc also announced in June the acquisition of Gruas Homs, a Catalan construction rental business.

GAM is to acquire Vilatel, an access rental company with around 4000 platforms in its fleet. The deal, which is likely to be completed in two or three months, will double GAM's aerial platform fleet to around 8000 units and propel it into the ‘major league’ of aerial platform owners worldwide.

GAM's big rival in Spain, Euroloc, is to buy the Spanish operations of Nacanco, the Spanish-Italian access rental specialist, adding around 2500 aerials platforms and revenues of €43 million. The deal does not include Nacanco's Italian business. Its other acquisition, Gruas Homs, has six depots and annual sales of €21,7 million.

Meanwhile, Loxam announced in mid-April that it had acquired the small, Madrid-based company Airent SA. Airent, which was founded in 1990, rents compressors, dumpers, gensets, mini-excavators and aerial platforms from a single depot in Getafe, south of Madrid.