The executive committee of Cramo, one of Europe’s largest rental companies, has increased its ownership in the company as part of an executive incentive arrangement. The committee members plan to acquire Cramo Plc’s shares from the market for a maximum total of €2.5 million (about U.S. $3.5 million), about 1 percent of the company’s market capitalization.

The share purchases will be financed by equity investments by the executive committee members — totaling about €500,000 (U.S. $697,265) — with the rest coming from a loan provided by Cramo. The committee members partly financed their capital investments in Cramo Management Oy — the company the committee set up — by selling their previously owned Cramo Plc shares on the market. Cramo Plc will grant Cramo Management Oy an interest-bearing loan for the maximum amount of €2 million (about U.S. $2.8 million) to finance the acquisition of the company’s shares, to be repaid in full at the end of 2012.

The deal will be valid until autumn 2012, or can be extended for two years if the share price of Cramo in November 2012 is below the average price the committee paid for the shares.

Cramo is based in Helsinki, Finland, and has more than 300 branches in 11 countries in the Nordic countries, Central and Eastern Europe.