Aggreko Expands Footprint in South America with Power Rental Business Buy

Aggreko has agreed to a £140m takeover of Poit Energia, a leading provider of temporary power solutions in South America.

A futher £21m will be paid if 2012 performance targets are met, the two compaines said in a statement today. The combined group will have a total of 36 service centres across the region, doubling the number Aggreko has today, with combined revenues of around £193 million.

Aggreko, the world's largest provider of mobile-power supplies, said the acquisiton supports its strategy of expanding its local businesses in the fast-growing economies and materially strengthen its business in South America with respect to geographic footprint and access to sectors.

"We are delighted to have this opportunity to further strengthen our business in South America, which has been one of the fastest-growing parts of our business over the last three years, and we greatly look forward to welcoming the employees of Poit Energia into the Aggreko team," said CEO Rupert Soames. "This is the fifth acquisition we have done in the Local business in the last four years and we are confident that Poit Energia, like the others, will add value to Aggreko".

The group's preliminary 2011 results reported on 9 March, 2012 showed profit before tax at £327m and a 21% rise in its underlying revenues for local businesses. Trading profit jumped 15%.

Given the strong start to the year, Aggreko is planning to increase the rate of investment in fleet and it expects that its fleet capital expenditure in 2012 is likely to be about £30m higher than it anticipated at the end of December, at around £350m. It is confident that the business will deliver strong growth in the first half of 2012.