Briggs International has acquired the rental assets of United Rentals in Monterrey, Mexico. Briggs, which already has a substantial rental operation in Mexico with nearly $29 million in rental volume in 2009, will combine this business with its Monterrey materials-handling operation Briggs Equipment S.A. de C.V.
The deal, which brings the total number of Briggs’ employees in Mexico to 600, was announced two weeks after it acquired the assets of Maquinaria Ligera Equinter S.A. de C.V., a materials-handling dealership and rental company based in Mexico City with seven branch locations.
“Briggs International’s growth strategy continues to focus on unprecedented global opportunities,” said Briggs’ president and CEO Dave Bratton. “We’ve recently been able to capitalize on a couple of good matches to our strategy in Mexico. This acquisition enables us to service more customers more efficiently.”
For United Rentals, which had only one branch in Mexico, unless the company planned a significant expansion in Mexico, divesting that business made sense. “After assessing the market, we came to the strategic decision that Mexico would not support a meaningful investment to expand our core rental business,” Fred Bratman, United Rentals vice president of corporate communications, told RER. “As you have seen from the other actions we have taken over the past 18 months, we are committed to investing in businesses that can generate an appropriate return for our company and our investors.”
“Briggs Equipment S.A. de C.V. is one of the largest material handling rental companies in Mexico,” added director general Fernando Malvido. “We have grown our business one client at a time. We believe we can earn the loyalty of our new clients with our quality service.”
Briggs International also has rental operations in the U.K. Its North American Briggs Equipment division, based in Dallas, is No. 22 on the RER 100.
