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Altrad, a French company that has grown rapidly mainly through acquisition, entered the UK about five years ago since when it has bought out several well-known brands, each with complementary activities mainly in scaffolding.

Belle 鈥� well known for its concrete mixers but not a scaffolding company 鈥� was bought in 2009. Then came Essex- based Beaver 84 and Northern Scaffold Group (NSG) in 2011; MTD Scaffolding and Generation Hire & Sales joined in 2012 followed by Trad Scaffolding and Manchester-based Spectra Scaffolding (now part of NSG) last year.

Each of these companies, with the exception of Belle, has a significant share of the scaffolding hire and sales market in the UK, meaning that Altrad is now a major UK player. But whereas many acquisitive companies might amalgamate, absorb and rationalise these businesses under its own corporate flag, Altrad鈥檚 strategy is to let them continue almost unchanged.

Each company retains its own existing identity, the Altrad name barely visible on any corporate branding, websites or literature. Only NSG has adopted the Altrad logo and rebranded as Altrad NSG; Beaver 84, MTD, Generation and Trad all retain their聽pre-existing branding and identity. Each also continues to run its own affairs which means that they remain聽mutually competitive, which has聽disadvantages as well as benefits. A bit of internal competition keeps everybody on their toes but each also has its own loyal customer base. A rising market offers opportunities to build market share, but that has questionable value to the parent company if one arm of the business is taking business from another.

Altrad鈥檚 distinctive style of devolved management is a fundamental characteristic of chairman Mohed Altrad鈥檚 business philosophy, which he has set out in a detailed and very scholarly 400-page book entitled 鈥淢anagement of an International Group in the Face of Multiculturalism鈥� (available as a series of pdf downloads on the Altrad聽Group website).

In a nutshell, Altrad aims to create a multicultural, collegiate group of companies built on a 鈥榤atrix鈥� structure 鈥� which means embracing differences rather than imposing a centralised corporate style.

That is not to say there is no leadership. The Altrad Group companies aren鈥檛 each doing聽their own thing; they are all doing the same thing but in their own way, a subtle but crucial distinction.听Senior managers - rivals out in the marketplace - are colleagues in the boardroom and meet regularly. For businessmen unused to such an original approach, this can be an uncomfortable experience.听鈥淎ltrad wants every company to grow and improve, but he expects them to all grow at the same rate,鈥� says one Altrad insider. 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure that鈥檚 possible.鈥澛燱hen an acquisitive international corporation starts buying up chunks of a particular industry, this is usually the start of a process of rationalisation as erstwhile rivals are merged and reshaped.听

That doesn鈥檛 seem to be Altrad鈥檚 style at all, though as one commentator observed: 鈥淚f one of the companies starts to fall behind the others, they鈥檒l have to do something.鈥澛�

Altrad's exotic origins

鈥淎ltrad鈥� sounds like an invented name 鈥� perhaps because of its similarity to聽Sir Alan Sugar鈥檚 Amstrad 鈥� but it鈥檚 actually the name of its founder, Mohed Altrad (above).听Altrad was born into a nomadic Bedouin tribe somewhere in Syria during the late 1940s or early 鈥�50s 鈥� he claims not to know his age or place of birth.听Orphaned very young, he received no elementary schooling but taught himself to read and write before going to secondary school to study for his Baccalaureate.

He then won a scholarship to study in France where he proved to be an able student. He has a PhD in computer science.

After several years working in computers with Alcatel, Thompson and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, he set up an IT company with a business partner before selling out to French technology group Matra.

Altrad launched his current business empire in 1985 when he bought He虂rault, a French SME specialising in scaffolding.听