Fruehauf Acquired By MV Commercial

Leading specialist truck and applications dealer MV Commercial has completed a multi million pound deal to acquire Fruehauf out of administration. The deal sees MV provide a secure future for the well known brand as well as protecting 120 jobs. An immediate cash injection and commitment to further investment over the next three years make up part of the deal alongside a modernisation of Freuhauf’s Grantham site and the addition of a truck sales and rental facility on site.

CEO of MV Commercial, Thomas O’Rourke, commented on the deal: “This is a hugely significant day for both businesses; and an opportunity we couldn’t turn down. Fruehauf has a fantastic product range, a rich heritage, and a wealth of talent within its team which will be complemented by MV Commercial’s strength and experience in the marketplace.

Talking about MV’s plans, Thomas continued “With immediate effect we are starting work to scale production back up, enabling us to commit to a delivery schedule for outstanding customer orders and begin building new stock trailers for MV’s own contract hire and ready-to-go fleets.”

MV Managing Director Steven Cairns added: “Geographically, Grantham is the perfect fit for us to develop a true ‘super site’. We should have 80-90 trucks and trailers available for sale on site within a month, and the manufacturing workforce back in the factory building at pace again. He continued, “We are so excited for the potential this acquisition brings and committed to ensuring there is a lot more Fruehauf product available in the marketplace. For long-time Fruehauf customers, we are confident this is very good news.”

A return to the legendary ‘Crane Fruehauf’ name, which was used from 1961 until around 1998, is also planned with Thomas commenting “MV Commercial is best known for building the biggest and most capable crane trucks in the market. Cranes are a huge part of what we do, so we certainly weren’t going to turn down the opportunity to put the ‘Crane’ back into ‘Crane Fruehauf’!”

Airdrie based MV Commercial was recently included in the London Stock Exchange Group’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’, one of only 48 Scottish companies mentioned. The annual report recognises the UK’s fastest growing and most dynamic SMEs.