Sunbelt Parent Ashtead Withdraws Bid for U.K.-Based Aerial Company

British equipment rental company Ashtead Group said this week it would withdraw a $300 million bid to acquire U.K.-based Lavendon Group, an aerial rental specialist with Europe’s largest fleet of truck-mounted aerial lifts. Ashtead, the parent company of Fort Mill, S.C.-based Sunbelt Rentals, made the bid in partnership with Belgian motor vehicle parts company TVH Services. Lavendon had rejected the bid as inadequate.

Lavendon, based in Lutterworth, England, has operations in a number of European and Middle Eastern countries.