Aggreko plc, the global leader in the supply of temporary power and temperature control solutions, has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire share capital of Sao Paulo-based Companha Brasileira de Locacoes ("Poit Energia"), a leading provider of temporary power solutions in South America, for R$404 million (about U.S. $221 million). Aggreko will finance the acquisition from its existing debt facilities. Aggreko expects to close the transaction this month.
For the calendar year of 2011, Poit Energia had audited revenues of R$132 million (about U.S. $72), EBITDA of R$44 million and net operating assets of R$151 million at the end of 2011. During the past three years, the business posted a compound annual growth rate in revenues of 45 percent, and trading margins higher than 20 percent.
The acquisition of Poit Energia supports Aggreko's strategy of expanding its Local businesses in fast-growing economies; it will materially strengthen Aggreko's business in South America, both in terms of geographic footprint and access to sectors which Aggreko is currently not in or to which it has limited exposure. The combined business will have a total of 36 service centers across the region, doubling the number Aggreko has today; the aggregate revenues of Poit Energia and Aggreko in 2011 in South America were R$555 million (about U.S. $304 million).
Founded in 1999, Poit Energia offers complete power rental solutions, including generators, lighting towers, containers and loadbanks, as well as accessories such as cables, transformers and switchgear. As of December 2011 Poit Energia had a fleet of more than 1,300 generators equating to around 350MW and employed more than 450 people. Poit Energia is headquartered in Sao Paulo and operates from 14 locations in Brazil, two in Chile and one each in Argentina and Peru.
"We are delighted to have this opportunity to further strengthen our business in South America, which has been one of the fastest-growing parts of our business over the last three years, and we greatly look forward to welcoming the employees of Poit Energia into the Aggreko team,” said Rupert Soames, chief executive of Aggreko. “This is the fifth acquisition we have done in the Local business in the last four years and we are confident that Poit Energia, like the others, will add value to Aggreko."
Wilson Poit, the founder and executive chairman of Poit Energia said: "We have long admired Aggreko, and have the same focus on specialist, high quality, energy rental; as a consequence, our businesses are very similar, and have a very similar ethos. Poit Energia has now come to the point at which its further development is best done within a larger group, which will allow our customers and staff to benefit from the resources and opportunities Aggreko can bring them."
