Selwood owner buys Dutch pump rental business

Workdry International, owner of UK pump specialist Selwood, has acquired Netherlands pump rental company Vanderkamp Group, expanding its pump rental coverage into the Netherlands and north west Europe. The price was not disclosed.

Under the deal, which is backed by fund manager Arcus Infrastructure Partners, Vanderkamp will continue to operate under its current brand, with CEO Rick van der Kamp leading the business and taking a senior management role at Workdry.

Vanderkamp offers pump rental and dewatering services in the netherlands, north west Europe and the UK. (Photo: Workdry)

The acquisition includes Vandrkamp Pompen in Zwolle, Vanderkamp Services in Zierikzee and Vanderkamp UK near London.

Workdry said the acquisition will give it a “market leading” presence in pump rental in the Netherlands and north-west Europe, and help it improve its engineered solutions across the business.

Vanderkamp’s UK-based activities will be gradually integrated into Workdry’s existing UK operations, which include Selwood pump rentals.

Richard Brown, CEO of Workdry, said: “We have long been admirers of Vanderkamp, whose focus on technical excellence and outstanding service reflects our own values as a leader in engineered pumping solutions.

“Bringing Vanderkamp into the Workdry group increases our presence in Europe in line with our strategic growth ambitions and enables us to provide both Selwood and Vanderkamp customers with access to an extended fleet, a comprehensive branch network and a growing team of pump rental solutions experts.”

Rick van der Kamp said the agreement would “accelerate our global ambitions as The Dutch Water Engineers. With additional resources, Vanderkamp will continue to excel in what we do best – conceptualising and delivering cutting-edge solutions”.

He said it would provide certainty and stability to Vanderkamp’s employees, customers and suppliers, and added; “This strengthens our leading position in the market of temporary pump solutions, retaining our down to earth, Dutch approach to solving complex problems with our typical Vanderkamp DNA.”

Jordan Cott, partner at Arcus and chair of Workdry, said: “We have a tremendous amount of respect for Rick and the business he has built over the past few decades, and are very pleased that he has decided to partner with us for this next chapter.

“This acquisition will serve as a stepping stone onto an exciting new growth trajectory for Workdry, providing a strong base for expansion into Europe and deepening the group’s core value proposition in engineered pump rental solutions.”

Arcus acquired an 83% stake in Workdry in mid-2022. It had previously been majority owned by the Bright family since 1976. Richard Bright remains an investor board member, with the remaining 17% ownership held by the Bright family and the management team.

An independent fund manager, Arcus is focused on long-term investments in European infrastructure. It currently manages investments with an aggregate enterprise value in excess of €21 billion, operating in digital, transport, logistics and industrials, and energy sectors.

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