U.K.’s A-Plant Acquires Temporary Access Provider Eve Trakway

A-Plant, one of the U.K.’s largest equipment rental companies, has acquired the entire share capital of temporary access specialist Eve Trakway, which will continue to trade under the same brand and operate as a separate division of A-Plant. A-Plant is a subsidiary of Ashtead plc, which also owns Sunbelt Rentals, the second-largest rental company in the United States.

Eve Trakway specializes in temporary roadways, bridges, fencing, crowd control barriers and traffic management. A-Plant acquired the company from former owner The Accession Group for £28 million (about U.S. $42.6 million). The company has seven locations across the U.K. and had revenue of £26 million in the past year.

“We are delighted to conclude this acquisition in line with our long-term strategy of developing high value-added specialty businesses that broaden our product offering and the markets we serve,” said Ashtead chief executive Geoff Drabble. “It also provides us with cross-selling opportunities to further improve our existing business.”

“We believe that the product range and markets served will complement the existing A-Plant business and together we believe there will be a number of market opportunities,” said Sat Dhaiwal, CEO of A-Plant. “A-Plant already hires equipment into the U.K. events market; we supplied a great deal of equipment during the London Olympics and Paralympics, which was used to direct pedestrians and traffic around the venues, but for certain types of equipment we had to supply on a re-hire basis. Having Eve under the A-Plant umbrella gives us the opportunity as a group to supply more of a complete package to the events industry, as well as opening up Eve’s customer base to a wider range of equipment.”

A-Plant is based in Warrington, U.K.