CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Sunbelt Rentals has reached agreement in principle to acquire 19 U.S. branches with aggregate revenues of about $30 million, Peter Lewis, chairman of parent company Ashtead Group PLC said last month.

Two of the 19 acquisitions were recently completed, Sunbelt's Chuck Miller told RER - Suburban Rentals, Hunt Valley, Md., and Aztec Rentals, Douglasville, Ga. Miller said the other 17 acquisitions will close by the first of the year, or very shortly after.

Sunbelt recently opened branches in Brunswick, Ga.; Spartanburg, S.C.; Winter Garden, Fla.; and a pump and generator specialty business in Jacksonville, Fla., called Sunbelt Pump and Power. The company plans to open start-up branches in early December in Manassas, Va., and downtown Washington. The recent acquisitions and start-ups bring Sunbelt's total to 80 branches and reflect the company's strategy to expand via a balanced combination of greenfield start-ups and acquisitions.

"The additional sites support our plans to reach 100 profit centers by our year end," Lewis said, adding that the new acquisitions are primarily in the 10-state region where Sunbelt is concentrated - North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Sunbelt, is No. 11 on the RER 100, based on estimated 1998 rental volume of $112 million.