Vroom vroom: Private equity house announces second acquisition in two days
A private equity group has announced its second acquisition in two days, today taking a majority stake in a British vehicle hire company.
Equistone Partners Europe has bought TOM Vehicle Rental, investing alongside management and the company founder-owner.
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TOM was founded in 1991 and provides vans, trucks, trailers and cars to more than 900 public and private sector customers.
The company, which reported revenues of £213m in the year to March, has 11 hire locations across the UK, with six in Scotland and five in England.
It marks Equistone’s second acquisition in two days, having yesterday taken a majority stake in a Dutch butcher, Group of Butchers.
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“Equistone’s investment in TOM is transformational for our business, in terms of both the financial backing and the increased executive team bandwidth it provides,” said TOM chief executive Robert Stewart.
This additional support will allow us to accelerate the ambitious expansion in our market share, number of UK locations, fleet size, customer base, and rental service offering.
Throughout these changes, the same quality of service and concern for customer satisfaction that have underpinned TOM’s success to date will remain our core focus.