Storent acquired by private equity fund

A majority stake in Baltic rental company Storent has been acquired by Darby Private Equity, the private equity arm of Franklin Templeton Investments.

Darby Converging Europe Fund III completed the deal for an undisclosed sum. Storent was founded in 2008 and operates 23 rental depots across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The company said founders Andris Bisnieks and Andris Pavlovs would remain significant shareholders and would continue to manage the business going forward.

“The Company gained a strong and reputable financial investor receiving significant amount of equity funding for further expansion,” said Mr Bisnieks.

“Following Darby’s investment, we will continue to implement our growth strategy developing the equipment fleet and strengthening market share in the core Baltic region and we will also consider entering new markets,” added Mr Pavlovs.

Arkadiusz Podziewski, principal in Darby’s Warsaw office, said, “Storent is very well positioned to benefit from the trend of increasing outsourcing of equipment fleet within the construction industry.

“The investment will allow the Company to further improve its product offering by expanding equipment fleet and adding new equipment categories.

"We are backing a successful management team with proven track record of developing the business throughout difficult times. We also believe Storent is a good platform for further international expansion.”