Equistone acquires TOM Vehicle Rental

Kenny Wastell
14 December 2016

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Equistone Partners Europe has acquired a majority stake in UK-based commercial vehicle rental company TOM Vehicle Rental.

Under its new ownership structure, the company will undertake an acquisitive growth strategy, though it will remain focused on the UK market. In recent years, TOM has expanded by investing in new vehicles, in addition to acquiring Nottingham-based Charthire in 2014.

The transaction marks the 17th investment with capital drawn from Equistone's fifth fund, which held its final close in March 2015 on €4bn. The company's management team and its founder also invested alongside the GP.

A spokesperson for Equistone declined to provide a deal valuation, though the GP typically makes equity investments of €25-125m in companies with enterprise values of €50-300m.

Company
Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Airdrie, Scotland, TOM is a rental provider of commercial vehicles, including vans, trucks, trailers and cars. It operates across 11 hire locations and has around 900 clients across both the public and private sectors, including Scottish Water, Scottish Power and Breezemount.

The company also operates five franchised vehicle dealerships under the Mercedes Benz and Citroen brands.

According to a statement, TOM generated a turnover of £213m in the year ending March 2016. According to publicly available records, the business generated a turnover of £143.2m with EBITDA of £31.6m in the previous financial year.

People
Equistone – Tim Swales, Paul Harper (partners).
TOM Vehicle Rental – Robert Stewart (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Deloitte (financial due diligence); Private Acquisitions (corporate finance); Grant Thornton (corporate finance); OC&C (commercial due diligence); Travers Smith (legal).