United Rentals today announced that United Rentals of Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Venetor Group, a seven-location equipment rental company in Canada that has a strong presence in the province of Ontario. Completion of the acquisition is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions contained in the definitive purchase agreement.

Family-owned Venetor Group was founded in 1975 by the Beraldo family and is the largest independently owned equipment rental provider in Ontario. Venetor rents a wide range of fleet to industrial, commercial and maintenance contractors, and sells equipment, parts and supplies.

Michael Kneeland, CEO of United Rentals, said, “Upon completion, the acquisition of Venetor Group will significantly expand our position in central Canada, a marketplace with attractive growth dynamics. We are particularly delighted that Alvi Beraldo, Tom Beraldo and Dennis Beraldo will bring their decades of experience to United Rentals, and continue to play an active role in growing the business. Venetor's commitment to superior service and its focus on industrial customers complements our own strategy and customer focus.”

The acquisition significantly strengthens United Rentals’ market penetration in Eastern Canada.

The Venetor Group consists of the original Venetor Crane, and Venetor Equipment Rentals, which was founded in 1996, providing rentals of mobile cranes, aerial work platforms and other lines of construction equipment such as compressors and air tools, light and heavy compaction equipment, concrete equipment, earthmoving equipment and more. It represents manufacturers such as JLG, Genie, Skyjack, Snorkel, Wacker, Grove, National, Broderson, Case, Bobcat and more.

The largest equipment rental company in Ontario, Venetor has branches in Stoney Creek, Toronto, Cambridge, Sudbury and Ottawa, Ontario.

The largest equipment rental company in the world, No. 1 on the RER 100, United Rentals has 531 rental locations in 48 U.S. states and 10 Canadian provinces.