Housing in Southern Africa February 2015

Industry Buzz, Events & Products

Heavy lifting Torre Industries is adding Elephant Lifting Equipment to the Plant and Equipment Division of its group of

and clamps, slings (chain, polyester and steel wire rope), shackles and rigging accessories. “For every tower crane we supply, newor used, there is probably anoth- er 20% of the total value of the crane that we can offer in add-on services,” said Quentin Van Breda, Managing Director, SA French. “The acquisi- tion will allow us to offer a genuine one-stop shop for tower cranes, from slings to shackles, concrete buckets and pallet forks, for example. We can now even offer foundation bolts and spreader beams in-house.” SA French offers both European and Asian versions of the Potain tower crane range. It has been rec- ognised as an Elite Dealer by Potain of France, which means a guarantee of 80% availability of spare parts on first call. “We have not droppedbelow 85% over the past three years,” says Van Breda. SA French’s hoist range includes Orbit and Torgar brands, while it also offers Dieci telescopic handlers and self-loading mixers. It has a rental fleet of 20 cranes and 27 telescopic handlers and hoists. Recent new-crane sales include a MC235 conventional crane and two MCT205 topless cranes for theWBHO/ Tiber Bonvec JV, who are building the new Discovery Health head of- fice in Sandton, Johannesburg. SA French also sold two new MC125 cranes to M&T Developments. Re- peat customer Trencon Construction

Cement & Concrete, Construction Equipment & Transport, Roofing, Ceil- ings, Insulation & Cladding To advertise contact Brenda Grossmann on 011 622 4770 or email brendag@crown.co.za Our Next Issue H O U S I N G in Southern Africa acquired a MC125 crane for a univer- sity in Kimberley, following its pur- chase of an IGO 50 self-erecting crane a year ago, in addition to an MC205 crane that is still active on the KPMG extension project off Empire Road in Johannesburg. ■

T he ultimate aim is to combine SA French and Elephant Lifting Equipment under the umbrella brand ‘Torre Heavy Lifting’, which will allow Torre to offer a total lifting solution from consumables to tower cranes to its customers across Africa. The acquisitionwas announced on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on November 20, 2014 and Competition Commission approval is expected early 2015. SA French and Elephant will continue to trade under their ownnames for the foreseeable future, however integration between the two entities commenced as at January 1, 2015. Elephant Lifting Equipment is headquartered in Centurion and has branches in Durban and Pemba, Mozambique, as well as a manu- facturing facility in Pretoria West. Its products include EOT cranes, monorails, electric chain hoists, chain and lever blocks, winches and wire rope pulling machines, lifting and spreader beams, mechanical grabs companies, along with SA French, Manhand and Kanu Equipment.

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February 2015