Langley Holdings, a diverse engineering company based in Nottinghamshire, UK, bought crawler crane manufacturer RB International as a going concern on 22 December 2000.

Negotiations with Langley were reopened in November after a deal with preferred bidder Danny Davis, the former Favelle Favco Cranes (USA) president, broke down.

RB was purchased from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) which was charged with selling the business after the former owners put the company into administration.

RB’s head office and manufacturing facility in Lincoln was closed last month and the operations have been relocated to Retford and Gainsborough in Nottinghamshire.

On 21 December, the day before closing on the RB purchase, Langley also agreed a deal to buy the UK materials handling business of aero-engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce Power Engineering which had been up for sale since March 2000. The deal includes Clarke Chapman, Stothert & Pitt, Wellman Booth and Cowans Sheldon.

Clarke Chapman is best known as a dockside crane manufacturer but it also supplies crane systems for a range of sectors including nuclear, ports, offshore platforms, steel producers and railways through the other three divisions. Its also undertakes facilities management contracts at ports, naval dockyards and industrial locations around the world.

The sale does not include the Clarke Chapman Marine business, which supplies deck machinery and replenishment-at-sea systems. That business remains with the marine business of Rolls-Royce.

The administrators of RB described the struggle they had selling the company. PWC partner Richard Rees said: “Securing the future of RB International has been a long, hard struggle. We had expected to have sold this business during October, but had considerable difficulties in dealing with prospective purchasers from overseas. In the end the best offer came from the Langley Group, which is UK based and was able to rescue the situation when it looked as if a sale was not going to be achievable.

“After the initial redundancies, we have retained the whole of the workforce of 30 employees at the Lincoln site. We have started and completed during this administration the manufacture of a 50t crane for a UK customer, and it was this order that allowed trading to continue. In the meantime spares and field service sales continued as normal.

“After being let down by overseas buyers, we are delighted to have found a UK rescuer for the business, and this will hopefully preserve jobs in the UK.” Tony Langley, owner of Langley Holdings, said: “RB has a worldwide reputation for quality and design, and we are delighted with the acquisition. The company will become part of our Clarke Chapman group and sits very well with the Stothert & Pitt, Wellman Booth and Cowans Sheldon crane businesses in that group. RB has had a tough time recently and now we aim to bring stability to it.”