The new partnership was unveiled at a recent trade exhibition in South Africa, where Verlinde and Akhanani jointly launched the Verlinde range of explosion proof products to the South Africa marketplace.
Verlinde sales and marketing manager Simon Rothechild said: “We have taken a strategic decision to ramp up our expansion in South Africa and continual growth can be foreseen for the next 12 months and beyond.” This, he added, is largely to do with its new found relationship with Akhanani.
Akhanani is based in Johannesburg, with additional sites around South Africa giving full coverage of the territory. Akhanani has around 50 engineering staff covering South Africa and has further major expansion plans for 2007 and beyond.
Akhanani director Arno Dahms said: “We have been negotiating with Verlinde for some time and we are delighted with the news that Akhanani has been accepted as a Verlinde distributor. In conjunction with Verlinde, we intend to become the largest manufacturer of cranes in Southern Africa.”