09.02.2017

Loxam completes Hune acquisition

Loxam has announced that its exclusive negotiations to acquire Spanish rental company Hune has resulted in success and that the acquisition was completed on Monday.

The deal substantially strengthens Loxam’s position in Spain, but also adds to its coverage in Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Colombia. Hune had annual revenues of €70 million – most of it in Spain, where it has 35 locations, it employs around 600 worldwide with an overall equipment fleet said to be in the region of 18,000 units. Click here to see Loxam to acquire Hune

Hune chief executive Luis Ángel Salas said: “I am very satisfied with the closing of this transaction that reinforces and widens the company's growth strategy, which will undoubtedly benefit from the global growth prospects of the Loxam Group”.

Loxam chief executive Gérard Déprez added: “I am very pleased to announce the completion of the acquisition of Hune, which will allow Loxam to reinforce its presence and to operate a national branch network in Spain”.
Hune ran into trouble when the recession hit and was taken over by its major lender Banesto. (Banco Español de Crédito) in 2010 with a debt mountain of around €500 million. Since then it has been completely restructured.

Vertikal Comment

This deal, along with the Lavendon acquisition takes Loxam into another league and is likely to make it the first European general rental company to exceed €1 billion in annual revenues with the additions likely to take it up to around €1.25 billion or so.

It will though also encourage the company to step up and internationalise its management structure which is probably what encouraged the Lavendon senior management team which could now play a major role in the merged business. Assuming of course that the Lavendon acquisition is fully completed and incorporated.

Interesting times.