Boels acquires Germany's Baurent

The long-anticipated sale of German rental company Baurent has finally been announced, with Netherlands-based Boels Rental to acquire the business on 1 January 2012.

Boels is acquiring Baurent Baumaschinen Miet-Service GmbH from the Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corp for an undisclosed price.

Baurent has been active in Germany for almost 40 years - it is an older company that Boels - and has revenues of more than €32 million. It employs 182 staff and has 29 locations throughout Germany.

Pierre Boels, managing director of Boels Rental, said; "We are very happy with the acquisition of Baurent and its great customer base. The acquisition is an important step forward in our growth strategy. After this expansion, we will have 123 branches in Germany."

Mr Boels said the intention was to further develop the German depot network in 2012, with as many as 15 additional ‘greenfield' openings to bring the total to 140 branches.

He told IRN that Baurent would be run under the Boels brand and that the company would add heavy equipment to its operations in Germany. Boels wuill add its wider range of products to the Baurent locations.

Mr Boels said Baurent's large depots would also be useful, with some becoming hub locations.

The Baurent fleet is also very young, said Mr Boels, with the company having a strategy of turning over equipment very regularly

Mr Hiroaki Hosoya, director of Itochu Europe PLC, said he believed that Boels and Baurent were a good fit and that "Boels together with Baurent has a tremendous opportunity to realise a range of synergies to sustain profitable growth and can be well established as a leading company in Germany."

Itochu acquired Baurent in 1994 and IRN understands that it has been attempting to sell the business for some time.