Malaysia’s UMW Enters Bidding for Coates Hire, Reports Say

May 29, 2013

Malaysian industrial conglomerate UMW Holdings has emerged as a bidder for Coates Hire, Australia’s largest equipment rental company jointly owned by Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group and private equity firm The Carlyle Group, according to Australian news reports. Final bids in the Goldman Sachs-advised auction for the company are expected early in June and owners are hoping for a price tag of more than $3 billion.

UMW, partly owned by the Malaysian government, is one of several bidders including Mitsui from Japan, hedge fund Apollo Global Management. Seven Group and Carlyle, which each own about 46 percent of Coates, have indicated they will not sell if they can’t get a high enough price for the rental company. In that case, the owners might prefer to take the rental company public.

UMW has expanded aggressively in recent years, with businesses in Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and China among others.