M&A fever is gripping the equipment rental industry. The starting gun fired over the summer after news broke that activist investor Toscafund was trying (& still is) to push Speedy Hire and HSS to merge. Then, a fortnight ago Avesco agreed to be snapped up by NEP Group for £124m (or 650p/share), equivalent to prospective multiples of 15.5x EV/EBIT and 25x earnings. And finally, last week Lavendon (LVD) rejected an opportunistic bid from Belgium’s TVH Group, pitched at 205p/share (or £349m), representing to a take-out price of 10.5x EV/EBIT – with the stock now at 217p, following rival interest from Loxam SAS yesterday.
