Sunbelt Rentals Sells Scaffolding Business to Safway Services, Acquires New Rental Centers

Aug. 15, 2005
Charlotte, N.C.-based Sunbelt Rentals announced last week that it has sold its scaffolding specialty business in Oregon, Washington, California and Texas to Safway Services, Inc. The sale allows Sunbelt to continue to focus on its core general tool, ...

Charlotte, N.C.-based Sunbelt Rentals announced last week that it has sold its scaffolding specialty business in Oregon, Washington, California and Texas to Safway Services, Inc. The sale allows Sunbelt to continue to focus on its core general tool, construction equipment and specialty businesses in these markets. Additionally, Sunbelt is opening and acquiring strategic new locations throughout the United States, with new branches in Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and southern Florida. Sunbelt Rentals will continue operating its scaffolding specialty business throughout the Eastern and Southeastern United States.

“This is a win-win for both companies,” said Cliff Miller, president of Sunbelt Rentals. “I believe that with this purchase, Safway gained our most valuable scaffolding asset in these markets — our talented team of scaffold professionals. The employees at Sunbelt and Safway will continue to provide customers with the best solutions for both scaffolding and general equipment rentals.”

The company also announced it has acquired a three-location rental business from Brookstone Equipment & Services, Inc. and a single location rental center from HSS RentX in Knoxville, Tenn. These purchases include certain assets as well as the continuing commercial activity generated at these locations.

The Brookstone acquisition includes single branch operations in Orange and San Diego, Calif., and Las Vegas, Nev. This increases the number of rental outlets in Southern California to five as Sunbelt continues to cluster its general tool centers in that market.

The HSS RentX acquisition brings to seven the number of Sunbelt locations in Tennessee, and fills a void between Sunbelt’s clustered markets in Nashville, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia.

Brendan Horgan, Sunbelt’s COO said, “We’re excited to add the Brookstone and RentX employees and customers to the Sunbelt team. These acquisitions make a strategically good fit in each of these growing markets that are currently under-represented by Sunbelt. We intend to build on the success of these operations by expanding their rental fleet to meet the growth demands of their respective markets, while providing customers with the highest level of service and the broadest range of products in the industry.”

Sunbelt Rentals is No. 4 on the RER 100.