Stamford-Based United Rentals To Acquire Louisiana Company For $4.8B

STAMFORD, CT — Stamford-based United Rentals, considered the largest equipment rental company in the world, announced this week plans to acquire H&E Equipment Services in a deal worth $4.8 billion.

Headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., and founded in 1961, H&E Equipment Services offers customers a "comprehensive mix of high-quality general rental fleet including aerial work platforms, earthmoving equipment, material handling equipment, and other general and specialty lines of equipment," according to an announcement on the deal.

The company has approximately 2,900 employees and $2.9 billion of rental fleet at original cost, and serves customers across the construction and industrial markets through a network of about 160 branches in over 30 states.

"In H&E we’re acquiring a well-run operation that’s primed to benefit from our technology, operations and broad value proposition," said United Rentals CEO Matthew Flannery in an announcement.

"Most importantly, we’re gaining a great team that shares our intense focus on safety and customer service. We’ll be working side-by-side throughout the integration to capitalize on best-in-class expertise from both sides," Flannery added. "We will use our well-honed integration playbook as we prepare the acquired branches to take full advantage of our systems and operational capabilities, and gain from our employee and customer-centric culture. I look forward to welcoming our new team members upon the closing of the acquisition.”

United Rentals is acquiring H&E for $92 per share in cash, which reflects a total enterprise value of approximately $4.8 billion, including approximately $1.4 billion of net debt.

"I’m extremely proud of what we’ve built at H&E over the last 60 years and am confident that our combination with United Rentals will take the business to new heights going forward," said H&E CEO Bradley W. Barber in an announcement.

Flannery noted the purchase of H&E supports United Rentals' strategy "to deploy capital to grow the core business and drive shareholder value."

"This acquisition allows us to better serve our customers with expanded capacity in key markets while also providing the opportunity to further drive revenue through our proven cross-selling strategy," Flannery continued. "Not only does the agreement satisfy the rigorous strategic, financial and cultural standards we set for acquisitions, but it also drives attractive returns for our shareholders."

According to the company, United Rentals has an integrated network of 1,571 rental locations in North America, 39 in Europe, 37 in Australia and 19 in New Zealand.

In North America, the company operates in 49 states and every Canadian province. The company’s approximately 27,550 employees serve construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others.

United Rentals says it offers approximately 5,000 classes of equipment for rent with a total original cost of $21.85 billion.

The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

Read more on the acquisition here.