15
LOXAM INTERVIEW
IRNAPRIL-MAY 2015
Themorethingschange...
“If we hadbeen looking short-term, wemight have
been scaredby theBrazilianmarket,” saidMrHenon.
“But Degraus is a well managed business and the
owner has been very reasonable in the way he has
driven his company. You get big ups and big downs
in some markets, but this is a good opportunity for
thenext 20 years.”
Downturn
Nevertheless, Loxam has gone into a continent
best described as “demanding” and a country
experiencing a significant downturn after years of
highgrowthdespite the theoretical economicboosts
of last year’s FIFA World Cup football tournament
and the 2016 Rio de JaneiroOlympic and Paralympic
Games. Sowhat didLoxam think itwould findwhen it
started theprocess?
“With Brazil, I was expecting what people call an
emerging market, but you can’t say it’s emerging
any longer. However, the administration involved is
very heavy, complicated and sophisticated. That’s
why we’ve partnered with a local company, because
we can rely on the existing management. We won’t
manage it likea Frenchor Belgianoperation.”
Mr Henon joined Loxam in 2000 and is in his third
year as managing director. Before Loxam, he was in
manufacturing, running the engineering office for a
company that supplied the pharmaceutical industry.
His earliest role was as a consultant with Deloitte.
When he talked about his current employer, he used
the word “exciting” several times. It was clear he
wanted to leadbyexample.
“I joined 15 years ago and I’ve had various roles
within the group. I’ve always been excited by
whatever I’ve done, but this is a bigger role with
French rental giant Loxam
made the headlines last
monthwhen it purchased a
25% stake in the Brazilian
company Degraus. But for
managing director Stéphane
Henon it’s business as usual,
as SteveDucker reports.
I
met StéphaneHenon late in theafternoonof the
fourth day of the recent Intermat exhibition in
Paris. The timingwas partly due to the fact that
earlier, his company Loxam had hosted a tour of its
siteatAulnay-sous-Bois - barely fivekilometres from
the show venue - with manufacturers, other rental
companies, andmembers of both the European and
American Rental Associations in attendance. As an
extra item of added value, the Aulnay-sous-Bois
location is home to Loxam brands for both general
rental andaccess equipment divisions.
If this suggests a theme of a company keen
to develop relationships, the message is an
appropriate one. Twenty-four hours earlier, Loxam
had announced only its second commercial venture
outside Europe in its history, with the news it had
takenan initial 25% stake in theBrazilian rental firm
Degraus, which has 20 branches across the
hugeSouthAmerican country.
While the decision to enter the
notoriously volatile South American
market was not expected by some
industry observers, the person
showing the least surprise is
StéphaneHenonhimself.
“We are an industrial player,”
said Loxam’s managing director.
“We’re not in Brazil for the next
three years or five years, we’re
there for thenext 20 years.”
The other positive factor in
the link up with Degraus is the
local knowledge that the host
company brings to help Loxam
through the difficult early years
of establishing itself in the new
territory. One of the key points of
the Degraus announcement was that
the owner Izaac Costa - who got the
family run business off the ground as
a scaffolding supplier in 1987 - would
remain in charge.
Stéphane Henon: “You can't call
Brazil an emergingmarket”
Degraus in Brazil, Loxam’s latest business venture, is its first in
South America and only its second outside Europe
If we had been looking
only towards the short term,
wemight have been scared by
the Brazilianmarket
