Coates Hire, Australia’s largest rental company, last week acquired Allplant Ltd., the earthmoving equipment rental division of Macmahon Holdings, for AU $73 million (about U.S. $56 million). The transaction also calls for a five-year preferred supplier agreement for Coates to rent heavy earthmoving and mining equipment to Macmahon for the next five years, with an annual volume incentive rebate.

Macmahon chief executive Nick Bowen said the sale was a good opportunity for his company to exit the rental business, which it didn’t consider a core business.

“This acquisition gives further medium- to long-term impetus to the large civil and mining sector strategy we started with the Allied Equipment investment, by expanding its service offering and by broadening its client base,” said Coates CEO Malcolm Jackson. “Essentially, we are able to increase our own capacity in a fleet type we are already familiar with, without adding additional capacity to the market overall and without paying new equipment prices.”

Coates, based in the New South Wales region, also recently acquired Bennett Hire, which has two locations in northern New South Wales, a region where Coates previously lacked significant market presence.