Specialist equipment hire company Statewide Equipment Hire has been acquired by national operator Onsite Rental Group in a deal worth $70 million.
SWEH founder Lou Quistini will take a seat on Onsite's board as executive director for WA, and SWEH's 80 staff will be merged into Onsite's operations.
Onsite chief executive Trevor James said while he was unable to guarantee that all SWEH staff would keep their jobs, that as his company had doubled in size since 2007, he was likely to need more staff, not less.
Mr James said he considered SWEH a perfect fit for Onsite as the two groups had similar specialty-based business structures, management cultures and product ranges.
He told WA Business News the two companies complemented each other, with each possessing some essential equipment the other lacked.
The deal, which has been in the works for the past nine months, will make Onsite the second largest equipment hire company in WA.
SWEH, which specialises in supplying the mining, construction and industrial sectors, has eight offices in WA, while Onsite has four.
SWEH will begin trading as Onsite in April next year after the two companies' IT systems were fully integrated to allow data to be transferred across the business.
Private equity firm Next Capital acquired a 60 per cent interest in Onsite in 2007, and with Next's financial backing Onsite has completed a strong of acquisitions since, the most recent being Brisbane-based WASP Diesel.
