By the end of last year VDL Bus & Coach announced having reached an agreement for VDL Bus & Coach Nordic AB to acquire all shares of Swedish company Björks & Byberg. This agreement was completely finalized on 4 May 2018. The acquisition by VDL Bus & Coach was with retrospective effect from 1 January 2018. VDL Bus & Coach Nordic, with subsidiaries in Sweden, Finland and Norway, employs approximately 60 people. The decision by VDL to take over the share package is a logical follow-up to the chosen strategy of being directly present in the major European bus markets.
“This new arrangement is crucial for VDL Bus & Coach and enables us to strengthen our role as a transition partner to zero emission heavy-duty mobility and smart city development in the Nordic markets,” says Henk Coppens, CEO of VDL Bus & Coach bv.
“The takeover emphasises the long-term commitment of VDL Bus & Coach to the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian public transport and coach customers. In all three countries we will strongly focus on further strengthening our presence in the market. We will invest in expanding our sales and aftersales organizations to increase the complete network coverage,” says Marcel Jacobs, commercial director of VDL Bus & Coach bv.
Complete range for bus and coach market
The VDL Bus & Coach subsidiaries in the Nordics offer the complete VDL range for the bus and coach market. The VDL Citea range, including the Citea Electric range, and the VDL MidCity are offered for the public transport activities. The VDL Futura range and the VDL MidEuro are core products for the coach market. Service and maintenance will also be covered by VDL Bus & Coach in the Nordics.
“We will now have a full focus on the VDL Bus & Coach portfolio. The takeover combined with a strengthened organization gives us even more capacity to make the difference in the transition to E-Mobility as a turnkey solution provider,” says Sami Ojamo, interim managing director of VDL Bus & Coach Sweden and Norway.
“Becoming a fully owned subsidiary of VDL Bus & Coach brings the company even closer to the market than before. This will allow us to further enhance our customer experience and closely support our customers not only in the transition towards zero emission public transport, but certainly also in the coach market,” says Henrik Mikkola, managing director of VDL Bus & Coach Finland.
