UK tool hire company Brandon Hire has acquired the lifting gear business, Loadtite, from the receivers of Baldwins Industrial Services for £810,000 ($1.2m).
Loadtite has more than 40 employees across four UK branches in Avonmouth, Cardiff, Hayes and Barking. These branches and their employees will be integrated into the Brandon Hire network, while retaining the trading name.
Loadtite specialises in providing lifting equipment primarily to industrial and construction sectors. The business began in the mid 1980s and was acquired by mobile crane hire company Baldwins in 1999. Baldwins called in the administrative receivers in October, after it became clear it could not survive the damage inflicted by an expansion into the US mobile crane rental market.
Brandon finance director Chris Sims told Hoist: “We were planning to bring some specialist equipment into some of our depots. We soon realised that we didn’t have a lot of expertise in lifting and this opportunity came up to get us from one to ten in one go. Loadtite not only expands our network but, through its experienced and knowledgeable staff, brings a wealth of expertise that it would have taken us years to achieve.” Branding strategy has not been decided yet but Brandon plans to continue with the equipment distribution business that Loadtite conducted under the Baldwins Global Distribution brand.
Loadtite managing director Mike Hughes left for China the day after the deal was agreed to meet with suppliers.
“The period of uncertainty is over and we can now look forward to growing the business rapidly in the next few months,” Hughes said.
According to the joint administrative receiver, Michael Gercke of PricewaterhouseCoopers, there was a lot of interest in Loadtite. UK market leader LGH Group is believed to have been interested. Said Gercke: “We are pleased that the business was sold as a going concern and that the position of the employees has been made secure.”
