Weldex, the largest crawler crane hire company in the UK, which is backed by UK mid market private equity firm Dunedin, has made a significant appointment to its board with the announcement that Bill Caplan has joined as chairman. Dunedin backed the £55m MBO of Weldex in June 2010.
Until recently, Bill Caplan served as an executive director on the board of Aggreko PLC and during his tenure the company experienced rapid growth, climbing from a FTSE 120 to FTSE 55 company in just four years. As regional managing director for Europe, The Middle East and Emerging Europe, Bill led the expansion of Aggreko’s business into Russia, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Iraq and Central Asia. He was also responsible for Aggreko’s contract with the London 2012 Olympics.
Prior to joining Aggreko, Bill spent 18 years working for UPS’ International Parcels and Supply Chain Solutions Divisions. As Chief Operating Officer for Supply Chain in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, Bill led the acquisition and integration of eight logistics and supply chain services companies. Bill was based in Asia in the early 90’ s and in 2003 spent a year in Shanghai leading a team that developed UPS’ medium to long-range strategy for the Greater China Markets. Bill also successfully managed his family-owned beverage distribution business until its sale in 1986.
Nicol Fraser, partner at Dunedin, who sits on the board of Weldex commented: “Bill has a great deal of experience in managing and growing large-scale international operations for privately and publicly held companies and we are very pleased that he has joined the team at Weldex. The company’s focus remains on investing in its fleet of modern cranes to meet continuing customer demand, and we look forward to working with Bill to further strengthen the company’s position as the largest crawler crane hire company in the UK.”
Dougie McGilvray, CEO of Weldex commented: “We welcome Bill to the company. It is of the utmost importance to Weldex to provide not only the most advanced equipment to our clients, but also to make sure that we employ the best people at board and management level to ensure that our customers receive a first class service.
“Weldex is not just a rental company, we are able to supply a complete lifting solution from lift design to contract completion providing a complete end-to-end service for customers.”
Bill Caplan commented: “I am delighted to be joining Weldex at this exciting stage of its development. It is an ambitious business with strong market positions and I look forward to contributing to its ongoing success.