Press release 8 January 2024
Tool and equipment rental company Vatupassi to transfer under the ownership of Avesco Group, Switzerland’s leading machinery rental company – employees and management to remain in Finland
The owners of the Finnish, Joensuu-based tool and equipment rental company Vatupassi have sold the shares of the company in totality to the Swiss Avesco Group. The company’s operations will continue unchanged under the name Vatupassi, and all employees will be transferred to the new employer as existing employees. The sale of the shares does not have personnel impacts. The management of Vatupassi will also remain unchanged. Previous entrepreneur Milla Törmälä will continue as the CEO, Anssi Törmälä will continue as the CFO, and Sampsa Tanskanen will continue as the COO. The company will pay its taxes to Finland also moving forward.
Currently, Vatupassi employs approximately 70 people across Finland in Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Nurmes, and Oulu. With the acquisition, Vatupassi will gain three new offices in Finland as Avesco Rent’s rental offices in Tampere, Turku, and Kerava will become Vatupassi sites.
The family-run business Avesco Group is the leading operator in machinery sales and rental in Switzerland and with strong position in Baltics States. Focusing on machinery and services rental, Avesco Rent kicked off its operations in Finland last year, and it currently has 15 employees in the country. Avesco Rent benefits from a long and rich experience in machine rental in the fields of construction, events, industry and public institutions. Avesco Group is the official dealer for CAT Equipment in this territory.
“For several years, we have grown our market position, but on our own it has been slower than we would have liked to see. Avesco provides such resources for growth that we do not possess,” states Milla Törmälä, CEO of Vatupassi.
Two family businesses to merge
Törmälä explains that they have seen several buyer candidates in the recent years, even though selling the family-run business has not been in the strategy. However, future vision and values were such a brilliant match with Avesco that after six months of negotiating, a deal was struck.
“Avesco is a sixth-generation family business, a fact which was of utmost importance to us,” says Törmälä.
“In addition, their vision of the machinery and equipment rental industry is similar to ours, and they also have experience in the event industry, in which we are interested,” she continues.
According to Törmälä, the most important thing is to preserve Vatupassi’s high personnel satisfaction level also after the transformation. It has been regularly monitored with the eNPS index, and last year’s result was +85 per cent, which is exceptionally high. The company also wants to continue its work towards sustainability.
“It has been a matter of honour for us to be a fair employer and bear our responsibility not only for our employees but also for the environment. Our objective is to decrease our relative carbon dioxide emissions to almost half in the next two years. These are the matters which we jointly want to focus on in the future. With these focus areas we believe we can be the best solution provider to our customers,” Törmälä explains.
The CEO of Avesco Rent Group Vincent Albasini feels that the Vatupassi brand is incomparable in Finland, and that the merger of two strong operators is a huge competitive edge for both.
“We are pleased to wish Vatupassi and its employees welcome to Avesco. Our products and services complement each other well, and it is a key differentiating factor in the extremely competitive rental market. The acquisition also strengthens our development strategy in Finland and the Baltics.”
“We both have strong traditions as family businesses. Our goal is to together become the strongest and most significant operator of the industry in all of Finland,” Albasini states.
For further information, please contact:
Milla Törmälä
CEO, Vatupassi Oy
+358 (0)50 072 4155
milla.tormala@vatupassi.fi