Lavendon Group, the United Kingdom’s leading aerial equipment specialist, made two recent major acquisitions of aerial rental companies. Last week the fast-growing firm acquired Norwich, England-based Wizard Workspace, which has 10 branches and a fleet of 1,300 aerial units, agreeing to pay about £2.15 million (about U.S. $4.25 million) for the company.
Wizard made a pre-tax profit of £600,000 (about U.S. $1.2 million) on volume of about £8.8 million. Lavendon said it planned no immediate changes to Wizard’s staff or operations.
Recently, Lavendon acquired Rise Hire Ltd, which specializes in the rental and contract lease of van-mounted powered access platforms and forklift trucks. Rise is a market leader in the van-mounted access market.
“Rise Hire has an excellent service reputation and operates in a market segment where our U.K. business is under-represented and where operational disciplines are different,” said Lavendon chief executive Kevin Appleton. “We intend for Rise Hire to be the foundation for further investment to develop a market-leading position in this sector.”
Lavendon, based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England, has a market capitalization of £260 million (about U.S. $514 million) and is believed to be the leading aerial rental player in Europe.
