Koningshooikt, Belgium – The board of 4 curators of the bankrupt Van Hool nv confirms the final acquisition of the business unit Van Hool Industrial Vehicles by GRW, a leading South African manufacturer of tankers and trailers and a partner company of Schmitz Cargobull. This follows the bankruptcy declaration of Van Hool nv, to which the ‘Industrial Vehicles’ business unit belonged, by the commercial court of Mechelen on April 8th.
Following a preliminary agreement reached on Wednesday, April 10th, between the curators of the bankrupt Van Hool nv and GRW, based on the binding offer previously made by GRW, a conclusive acquisition agreement has been ratified by both parties today. Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.
Jeroen Pinoy, one of the curators handling the bankruptcy at Van Hool nv, provided the following explanation: “Our first concern was to ensure that all administrative procedures could be facilitated for the employees involved in the company. The joint union front really helped with that, and it went very smoothly. In parallel, we worked on carefully fulfilling the responsibilities to enable a quick restart. Today, we have been able to formalize everything, and production of tankers, trailers and tank containers can resume. GRW can get to work. As for the takeover of the bus and coach activities, discussions with the VDL Groep are still ongoing. These meetings are constructive and will be concluded as soon as possible.”
Gerhard van der Merwe, CEO of GRW, explains: “It was crucial to quickly restart the operational activities, both to fulfill the current orders and to retain the knowledge and expertise of the employees. We will officially restart production on Monday, April 29th. This will occur in three phases: In the first phase, all vehicles already in the final stages will be fully completed by a limited number of employees. In the second phase, parts will also be purchased and produced in-house. In the third phase, production will be fully resumed, with the aim of being fully operational by early June 2024. This is expected to involve employment of up to 350 employees. We are grateful to the curators for their good preparatory work.”
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About Van Hool: Van Hool was a Belgian independent manufacturer of buses, coaches, and industrial vehicles, based in Koningshooikt. The company was founded in 1947. The majority of production was destined for Europe and North America. Van Hool employed approximately 4,100 people worldwide, the majority of whom worked in the production facilities in Koningshooikt (Belgium) and Skopje (North Macedonia). www.vanhool.com
About GRW: GRW is the leading manufacturer of tankers and refrigerated trailers in South Africa, with exports to Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Australia. GRW is a family-owned business founded in 1996, and in 2018, Schmitz Cargobull acquired a 39% stake in GRW. GRW produces 1,200 tankers annually with a workforce of 630 employees. www.grw.co.za www.grw-europe.com
About Schmitz Cargobull: Schmitz Cargobull is the leading manufacturer of trailers for temperature-controlled freight transport, general cargo, and bulk goods in Europe. Schmitz Cargobull was founded in 1892 in Münsterland, Germany. The family-owned company produces approximately 60,000 vehicles annually with more than 6,000 employees and generated a turnover of approximately 2.6 billion euros in the financial year 2022/23. The international production network currently includes ten factories in Germany, Lithuania, Spain, England, Turkey, Slovakia, and Australia. www.cargobull.com