FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - NationsRent has sold most of the Bode-Finn Co. to Greenville, N.C.-based NACCO Materials Handling Group, according to Bode-Finn officials. NationsRent, which acquired the Cincinnati-based company in May 1998, sold its material-handling, systems design and engineering, and waste reduction and recycling systems to NACCO. NationsRent retained the company's aerial work platforms division.

According to Bode-Finn officials, the deal was finalized in January, but an agreement between NMHG and NationsRent prohibited Bode-Finn officials from announcing the transaction until NationsRent made it public. NationsRent and Bode Finn's material handling suppliers chose to sell the business because of a mutual decision that that division would be better served under different ownership, officials said.

Cleveland-based NACCO - which stands for North American Coal Co. - makes and distributes Hyster and Yale lift-trucks; owns a kitchen appliance division; and mines lignite coal for use by utility companies. It is the parent company of NMHG Distribution Co., which now owns Bode Finn.

The company is doing business as Bode-Finn in Cincinnati, Dayton and Canton, Ohio; Florence, Ky.; and Charleston, W.Va. NMHG is doing business under the name Hyster Mideast in Cleveland, Canton and Youngstown, Ohio, and in Erie, Pa., after its previous acquisition of Northeast Ohio-based Quimby Material Handling Co.