Ashtead Group

Ashtead was founded in 1947, in the village of Ashtead, Surrey, as Ashtead Plant and Tool Hire.[4] In 1986, it was first listed on the London Stock Exchange.[4]

On 1 April 1987 the company completed the acquisition of Keyplant Limited, which was itself a subsidiary of Norwest Holst Holdings Limited at the time. The acquisition of Keyplant increased the number of locations operated by the group by 13. Keyplant was itself primarily involved in the hire of plant. This was followed on 31 October 1987 by the acquisition of the business and assets of J Harrison (Plant Hire) Limited at a cost of £270,000.

The company continued to expand through acquisitions in 1988 by purchasing Power Products (Plant Hire) Limited, Beaver Plant (Scotland) Limited and Chevron Hire Centres Limited (dormant) on 31 March at a cost of £1.7 million, satisfied by the issue of 400,000 new shares. Shortly thereafter, on 30 April the company acquired Wimpole Hire Limited at a cost of £178,500 (in addition to the assumption of £500,000 of internal debt to its previous owners (Willmott Dixon (Holdings) Limited)).

Reliant Plant Limited was acquired on 18 January 1989 at a cost of £5,792,500, satisfied by the issue of 1,892,708 new shares and Guaranteed Loan Notes with a value of £1.25 million. This acquisition increased the overall depot count by 16. Shortly after the acquisition, the Reliant brand was retired. On 31 July 1989 the company purchased Pannell (Plant) Limited at a cost of £50,000. This was followed by the acquisition of Banson Tool Hire on 29 December 1989 for £66,000.

On 6 April 1990, the company made its first foray outside of traditional plant hire with the acquisition of Subspek Limited for £1.2 million. Subspek was a plant hire business offering survey and inspection equipment primarily to the offshore oil industry. The main area of operation at the time of the acquisition was the North Sea, although there was a small, majority owned subsidiary in Dubai serving the middle east markets, as well as an expanding onshore activity providing non-destructive testing equipment to the engineering, water and electricity industries in the UK.

In 1990, the company completed the acquisition of Chapple Plant Hire and Sales Limited, based in Barnstaple, UK, on 6 May in a cash purchase valued at £250,000.

Also in 1990 the company acquired Sunbelt Equipment & Rentals Inc as it entered the American market. At the time, Sunbelt had two locations in North Carolina and South Carolina. The company was acquired for an initial cost of $413,000.

On 18 June 1991, the company acquired an additional 16.3% of the shares in Mertec Systems (Middle East) Limited. Ashtead acquired 51% of Mertec in April 1990 when purchasing Subspek Limited.

SPW Plant Hire was purchased at a cost of £150,000 in September 1992.

The business and assets of City Plant (a subsidiary of the Tomlinson Group) were acquired on 10 September 1993, CSE Plant (a subsidiary of the Wiltshier Group) was acquired on 25 February 1994. The Hire Centre (a subsidiary of Edward Davies Holdings) was purchased sometime in 1993/1994. The business and assets of RTH Plant were also purchased at a cost of £263,000. On 10 March 1994 the company acquired the business and assets of Record Plant were acquired. As of 14 January 1994 the company acquired the remaining outstanding shares in Mertec Systems (Middle East) Limited.

At a cost of £3.25 million the business and assets of GKN Powered Access was acquired on 7 July 1994, adding it's five outlets to the expanding network. The primary business activities of GKN Powered Access was the hire of access equipment, largely to non-construction users. The rental business and assets of Steve Vicks International were purchased for £200,000 on 12 July 1994 expanding the product offering to include pipe-line handling products.

On 9 August 1994 at a cost of £211,000 the company acquired certain assets from the liquidator of Dial Plant Limited adding a new plant hire location in Newcastle. The plant and tool hire business of Norman Walker (Machinery) Ltd was acquired on 30 September 1994 for £133,000, resulting in a new plant hire location in Hull.

Carter & Bradbury Ltd was acquired on 27 January 1995 at a cost of £3.54 million. They were the largest specialist welding hire company in the UK with 9 "profit centres". Then, on 10 February 1995 the company acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Dabbs PLC, a plant hire company in Lincolnshire with 2 "profit centres" for an approximate consideration of £0.285 million.

The company made its second acquisition in the United States on 20 February 1996 when it purchased McLean Rentals Inc for $34 million. McLean had, at the time 8 locations in Virginia & Maryland. McLean was very quickly integrated into Sunbelt. With this acquisition the network of locations in the USA had expanded to include 24 "profit centres" in seven states. Sunbelt was now in the top 10 equipment rental companies in the USA.

A second acquisition was made in 1996 when Leada Acrow Limited was purchased on 26 February at a cost of £16.5 million. All 19 of the companies locations throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland were included as part of the transaction. This took the business into the non-mechanical products sector, including formwork, falsework and groundworks. On 4 October 1996, Astra Pumps and Plant Limited was acquired by the group subsidiary, Ashtead Plant Hire Company (Ireland) Limited, at a cost of IR£5 million, making the group the principal plant hire company in the ROI. Further expansion followed on 31 October 1996 with the acquisition of ASP Hire & Sales Limited, a single branch business in Nottingham for £600,000.

On 1 July 1997, the company acquired D McKeown Plant Hire Limited. Sheriff Holdings PLC was acquired on 26 September 1997, immediately adding 48 "profit centres" to the national network and integrating a "top five" competitor, cementing the groups position as a market leader in the UK. Non-core activities of Sheriff, namely the waste management and operated plant side of the business, were quickly disposed of. On 21 January 1998 certain plant hire assets & the plant hire business were acquired from Austwel Limited. Westerfield Plant Hire was acquired on 2 March 1998.

Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the business and assets of PeeDee Rentals on 2 March 1998.

9 October 1998, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of Montgomery County Ford and Mid-Tenn.

1 December 1998, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of Bob's Interstate Rentals.

1 March 1999, Ashtead Plant Hire Company Limited acquired the business and certain assets of UK Plant Limited, including 41 "profit centres".

1 November 1999, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of Aztec Rental Center Inc. Also on 1 November 1999, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of Suburban Sales and Rental Center Inc.

29 November 1999, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of ABC Rental Center.

9 December 1999, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of Ward Rents Inc.

17 February 2000, Ashtead Plant Hire Company Limited acquired the rental business and rental assets of Warrior Plant Hire.

10 March 2000, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of Hercules Parts Inc & MKS Equipment Inc.

27 April 2000, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired the rental business and rental assets of General Rental Inc.

28 April 2000, Ashtead Plant Hire Company Limited acquired certain assets of the rental business of BPH Equipment Limited.

June 2000, Sunbelt Rentals Inc acquired BET USA from Rentokil Initial, adding 59 new locations to the North American operations. Sunbelt was now the fifth largest company in the American market with a 2% market share.

October 2000, Ashtead Technology acquired Response Rentals, a US environmental equipment rental business. The product range comprised a wide variety of instruments to sample, measure and monitor environmental factors including air and water quality, hazardous waste, toxic gases, noise vibration and industrial hygiene. This acquisition added four new locations in North America.

17 October 2005, Sunbelt acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Northridge Equipment Rentals Inc for a cash consideration of £39.1 million. Northridge traded through five stores located in central and southern California.

31 August 2006, Sunbelt acquired the entire issued share capital of NationsRent Companies Inc for a total consideration of $592 million plus acquisition costs. NationsRent was the sixth largest provider of equipment rental services in the US. The combined business is now the second largest rental company in the US, serving principally the private non-residential construction market.

16 October 2006, A-Plant purchased the entire issued share capital of Lux Traffic Controls Limited for a total consideration of £15.8 million. Lux was the UK's largest provider of rental traffic systems and it's 44 locations were immediately amalgamated into the A-Plant Network.

In June 2008, it sold Ashtead Technology in a management buyout deal.[5]

10 January 2011, Sunbelt acquired the entire issued share capital of Empire Scaffold LLC for $39 million, a specialist provider of scaffold rental, erection and dismantlement services principally to the Gulf Coast petrochemical company.

Sunbelt acquired the entire issued share capital of Topp Construction Services Inc and its related company, Precision Steel Works LLC for $33.5 million on 3 April 2012. Topp is a specialist rental provider of air conditioning, heating and dehumidification equipment based in Philadelphia with 15 branches located principally in major cities across the United States. Precision runs a small assembly and manufacturing facility in support of Topp’s business.

20 November 2012 - JMR Industries Ltd; a single location energy-related business, renting and selling equipment into the oil and gas industry

28 December 2012 - Southern Boom & Scissor Inc; equipment rental to the convention services industry.

1 February 2013 - Milwaukee High Lift Inc and Madison Hight Lift Inc; aerial work platform rentals.

11sth March 2013 - Raider Pumping Services L.P.; a single location water transfer business focusing on the movement of water surrounding drilling sites in the Eagle Ford Shale basin in Texas.

2 April 2013 - Mid-Mountain Machinery Inc; a single location equipment rental business located in Spokane, Washington.

10 May 2013 - Accession Group Limited (including its principal trading subsidiary Eve Trakway Limited; a specialist rental provider of temporary access solutions to the events and industrial sectors.

1 July 2013 - Plant and Site Services Holdings Limited, Plant and Site Services Limited, PSS Innovations Limited and P Moloney Plant & Site Services Ireland Limited; PSS hires and sells specialist joining equipment, tooling and consumables to utility companies and their contractors across the United Kingdom.

12 July 2013 - Worth Supply Co Inc; a general tool rental business.

1 August 2013 - M.A.C. Leasing LLC; MAC specialises in the rental and service of heating equipment.

20 September 2013 - Contractors' Equipment Company; a four location general tool rental business.

1 November 2013 - Coffing-Eastman Inc trading as Shamrock Equipment Rental; a four location energy-related business, renting into the oil and gas industry.

7 November 2013 - CG Power Rentals Inc; a two location equipment rental company into the oil and gas industry.

20 December 2013 - Fairview Lifting Gear Services Limited and Fairview Design & Engineering Limited; Fairview specialises in the hire, sale and provision of lifting solutions.

3 February 2014 - Winchester Rentals LLC; a single location equipment rental business.

1 April 2014 - ElecComm Power Services Inc; EPS specialises in the provision of temporary power products and service.

8 April 2014 - Clarkstown Equipment Co Inc; a single location general tool rental business.

14 April 2014 - On Site Energy Company Inc; On Site specialises in the rental of power and climate control equipment.

On 1 May 2014, Sunbelt acquired the entire issued share capital of Metrolift Inc (Metrolift) for a cash consideration of $42 million. Metrolift is a Chicago-based aerial work platform rental business.

On the 19th o

It bought Pride Equipment Corporation for US $279 million in April 2017.[6]

In November 2018, it was announced that Geoff Drabble would retire as CEO after twelve years on 1 May 2019, and would be succeeded by Brendan Horgan, the Group COO and chief executive of Sunbelt Rentals, Ashtead's North American business.[7]

The company operates internationally, servicing customers in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.[8] Approximately 85% of its revenue is generated in the United States through the subsidiary Sunbelt Rentals, currently present in six hundred locations across the United States and Canada.[8]

• Ashtead Group Official site
• A-Plant
• Sunbelt Rentals UK
• Astra Site Services
• Sunbelt Rentals US
• Yahoo profile
• European Rental Association