Michael Birch News

The Netherlands-based Mammoet confirmed it has completed its acquisition of UK-based rival ALE, creating the industry’s largest engineered heavy lifting and transport services provider.The businesses will operate as one company under the Mammoet brand with more than 140 offices and branches worldwide, Mammoet said in a press release on Wednesday.An integration plan to be rolled out over the coming months will focus on bringing the two organizations together, Mammoet said. ALE executive board member Michael Birch will join Mammoet's executive management team as chief commercial officer.

The Danish and German governments plan to sell the joint-owned Scandlines ferry line and companies from Sweden, Denmark and Germany had expressed an interest in buying the firm. "We are currently studying the possibilities (for a sale) and we expect to make a decision in mid-November," Danish Transport Ministry spokesman Michael Birch said. The state railways of Denmark and Germany each own a 50 percent stake in Scandlines AG. The Danish-German ferry company was originally expected to go public only in a few years' time, but this would not be the case if Scandlines succeeded in finding a buyer, Birch said. He added that companies in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and further afield had expressed an interest in buying the firm.