Baldwins Industrial Services, the UK rental company and heavy lift specialist that floated on the London stock exchange in July 1998, has paid $12.5m to acquire the assets of Phillips Crane & Rigging of Houston, USA.
Phillips Crane was established in 1969 and, according to Baldwins, is the second largest crane and rigging specialist in its region, in spite of having just 26 cranes in its fleet.
The vendor, David Phillips, is staying with the business “in an engineering capacity” and new – American – management is being put in to run the business, said Baldwins chairman and chief executive Richard Baldwin.
He added: “It is our intention to to strengthen the profile of Phillips Crane, which will continue to trade under its own name. We will significantly enhance the mix of its crane fleet and provide the dynamism, focus and investment necessary to enable Phillips Crane to act as a strategic hub to maximise what we believe are considerable market opportunities in the southern US and the Gulf of Mexico.” Cranes to be added to Phillips’ fleet include a 600t Demag CC 2800 and a 1200t Liebherr LR 11200.
Asked why he had chosen the USA for his overseas push in preference to mainland Europe, Baldwins chairman and chief executive Richard Baldwin said: “We prefer the dollar. The strategy is to generate more dollar earnings for the group. It’s a vote against the euro.”
