06.08.2018
Fassi acquires ATN
Fassi has acquired French aerial lift manufacturer ATN, rescuing it from insolvency proceedings.
We understand that while the deal was agreed on Friday, the details were only due to be finalised today, which is why an announcement has not yet been issued. ATN entered the insolvency process in February and has been looking for an investor since then. The insolvency process stepped up a gear in June when the company entered the next stage of the French process.
No details are available as to what form the pending acquisition might take or its impact on employees and the company structure. But it looks as though ATN will become affiliated with other French companies in the Fassi group, namely Marrel and Fassi France.
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The ATN plant in Fauillet
ATN was founded in 2000 by Daniel Duclos - the originator of the Toucan mast boom and previous owner of rental company Access Industrie or rather Accès Industrie. In 2016 he announced a 10 year plan to increase annual production to 5,000 machines with revenues of €80 million - more than five times the sales at the time.
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Daniel Duclos at ATN in 2015
Since then sales have slipped, while it has struggled with debts and credit from key suppliers. The current product range includes mast booms, articulated boom lifts, Rough Terrain scissor lifts and a spider lift. At last count the company had 70 employees.
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ATN's new Piaf 12E Max
UPDATE
We have now received notification that the deal has closed through Fassi's French subsidiary CTELM effective today.
A statement said: "The group wants to provide ATN with the energy and resources to become a major actor on the aerial work platform market.
The first two main goals will be:
• To restart the production and to communicate reliable lead times while keeping the same performance and quality levels for our products.
• To quickly strengthen the Product Support Department to guarantee a better service level."
Vertikal Comment
This is a slightly unusual move on Fassi’s part. The company quit the access market in 2009 when it sold Socage to Paolo Troni and Fiorenzo Flisi. Since then integrated platforms on loader cranes have become more popular, while Fassi took a stake in Jekko, which produces a few spider lifts alongside its spider lift cranes.
See Troni buys Socage
The combination of loader cranes and self-propelled aerial work platforms is rare outside of places like China, although loader crane companies are often present in the truck or vehicle mounted lift market, in Europe the main example of this is Palfinger.
An interesting move
Sherm
As a grad of a good business college I take interest in firms that try to expandtoofast. Mr. Duclos seems of the ilk of Wayne Huizinga the driving force behind Blockbuster Video and Nations Rents (135 rent hire yards in about five years) then flopped. In my 56 years of biz experience I?ve learned that gradually managed growth will be more successful and stable than pulling out all the stops and going full blast. I think that pace only works for military and wars.