MSA Africa fall-arrest business set to grow following global acquisition
September 2016
News
MSA Africa’s potential for growth in local market share in 2016 is considerable, following the 2015 acquisition of UK-based Latchways by the MSA Group. Latchways is a specialist in the design and manufacture of horizontal lifelines and vertical fall-arrest systems that are used in the utilities, telecoms, construction and aircraft market segments.
Latchways employs around 250 people globally and had 2015 revenues of approximately $50 million. The transaction is valued at around $190 million, and significantly broadens the global MSA Group’s existing line of fall-protection products, while strengthening the company’s position in the global fall-protection market – estimated to be up to $2 billion globally.
MSA Africa director Colin Oliver indicates that the Latchways range is entirely different, yet perfectly complementary to the MSA range of fall-protection solutions. He believes that the product range now has a better reach into Africa, thanks to a larger network of existing resellers and distributors that have direct support from the OEM.
Colin Oliver.
“This synergistic partnership offers a high quality turnkey solution to the market that is backed up with unrivalled aftersales service. Adding the Latchways range to our existing solutions is beneficial to our customers, as we now provide the end user with a comprehensive portfolio of fall-arrest solutions that can be used individually, or in conjunction with one another,” he states.
Oliver anticipates that MSA Africa has the potential to grow its fall-arrest business significantly during the course of 2016. “This acquisition holds enormous potential for us to expand our specialised portfolio to become one of the largest across existing sub-Saharan African markets, while penetrating new sectors, such as aviation,” he concludes.
For more information contact Colin Oliver, MSA Africa, +27 (0)11 610 2600, orders@msaafrica.co.za, www.msaafrica.co.za
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