GAM eyes HUNE acquisition

Spain's GAM has opened talks with HUNE, with a view to acquiring the rival rental company. GAM said its negotiations and due diligence are at a preliminary stage, and that there is no binding agreement in place or firm commitment to buy HUNE.

HUNE has been going through a process of restructuring and internationalisation, following financial difficulties that came to a head in late 2009 as a result of its heavy debt burden and the collapse of the Spanish market.

GAM is more than twice the size of HUNE, but the two are the largests and second largest general equipment rental companies in Spain, with combined revenues in 2009 of just over €400 million.

Since May last year HUNE it has been owned by Madrid-based restructuring specialist Noraction, which initiated cost-cutting measures and also a new strategy of targeting rental activities outside Spain.

In this strategy it is trying to follow what GAM has already done. GAM is active in 14 countries - Portugal, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Chile, Peru, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.