Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad has bought national equipment hire agency Onsite Rental for $635 million to diversify its presence in the Australian market.
Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad has bought national equipment hire agency Onsite Rental for $635 million to diversify its presence in the Australian market.
Onsite, which has nine branches in Western Australia, offers a broad range of rental assets such as excavation and earthmoving equipment, site accommodation and traffic management.
The NSW-based company also offers digital rental management software and industry-specific solutions for mining, oil & gas and construction sectors.
Sime Darby Berhad subsidiary, Sime Darby Allied Operations, acquired the company to diversity its industrial rental equipment offerings across industries in Australia.
The Malaysian company’s industrial division focuses on the sale and rental of heavy equipment and industrial solutions, particularly in the mining and construction industries.
Onsite was previously majority owned by a group of institutional investors led by Franklin Templeton Investments (31 per cent), Merrill Lynch International (27 per cent) and Glendon Capital Management (25 per cent).
The remaining 16 per cent hold in the company was owned by various shareholders.
Sime Darby Berhad Group chief executive Dato’ Jeffri Salim Davidson said the company strategically positioned itself to capture demand across the resources, infrastructure and energy sectors.
“The Onsite acquisition complements our existing portfolio and provides geographic expansion to position our Industrial division in high growth areas of the Australian market,” he said.
“We are very pleased to have retained Onsite’s strong management team and look forward to working with them to build on its leadership in the mining and construction equipment rental market.”
Onsite chief executive Mike Foureur said Sime Darby was a natural fit for Onsite.
“We are thrilled to be joining forces to build on our great success in the Australian market,” he said.
“With this backing, Onsite can invest into adjacencies, achieve supply chain efficiencies, expand into new markets and enhance our offering to accelerate growth and contract wins.”
Sime Darby is being advised by Azure Capital and Gilbert + Tobin, while MA Moelis, EBS and MinterEllison advised Onsite.
