TVH Group Ups Offer in Bidding War for U.K.-Based Lavendon

Jan. 4, 2017

2 min read

The bidding intensifies for UKbased Lavendon Group which includes Nationwide Platforms as one of its brands — The bidding intensifies for U.K.-based Lavendon Group, which includes Nationwide Platforms as one of its brands.

A bidding war for United Kingdom-based equipment rental company Lavendon intensified this week as Belgian rental player TVH Group raised its offer to £444 million (about U.S. $545 million), slightly above the previous offer from France-based Loxam, Europe’s largest rental company. TVH said it is now offering 261 pence per Lavendon share, up from its previous offer of 251 pence per share and higher than Loxam’s offer of 260 pence per share made Dec. 28.

TVH also said it now owns about 20 percent of Lavendon.

Both TVH and Loxam are attracted to Lavendon’s market share in the U.K. equipment rental industry, as well as its prominence in the Middle East. TVH’s latest bid is its fourth offer. Lavendon management is supporting Loxam’s offer and has advised shareholders to take no action regarding the competing bid from TVH.

In a letter to shareholders last month, Lavendon chairman John Standen said management would recommend Loxam’s offer because its rental activities would complement Lavendon’s business.

Loxam management said it is considering its options.

The latest offer represents a nearly 90 percent jump in Lavendon’s share price, which was at 139 pence at the close of trading on Nov. 21 before TVH’s first offer to acquire Lavendon became known.

Lavendon, primarily in the aerial rental business, has operations in Bahrain, Belgium, France, Germany, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.