IRN’s end-of-year list of rental company acquisitions in 2025

You wouldn’t describe 2025 as a banner year for mergers and acquisitions in the global rental sector. The market was rather too stressed, at least in Europe, to be focusing on too many mega deals.

That doesn’t mean there were none. For a start, how about the tussle between Herc and United Rentals for H&E early in the year, ultimately won by Herc. That definitely qualifies as a large transaction.

But what else happened in 2025? Even if the sector was lacking in multi-billion dollar deals, there was still a lot of activity, as evidenced by the list below of 33 deals that we reported on during 2025.

Rental M&A in 2025

• Herc Rentals to acquire H&E in $5.3bn deal
• United Rentals makes Florida acquisition
• United Rentals acquires Australia’s Alfasi Hire
• Selwood owner Workdry buys again in US
• HSS sells UK hire business for £1 and strikes online deal with Speedy
• Opifex-Synergy acquires Equipment Finders
• Johnny Servis acquired by France-based renter
• Atlas Copco boosts rental business with big US acquisition
• Atlas Copco to acquire US specialty rental company
• Alayan strengthens in central Italy
• Mateco acquisition part of general rental rollout
• Aggreko buys spanish power specialist Krill
• Cooper Equipment makes trio of acquisitions
• Accès Industrie buys major competitor
• US temporary roadway renter NPK expands in UK
• Loxam acquires in central Italy
• Italian power renter acquired by UK private equity
• Kiloutou strengthens with acquisitions in Denmark and Italy
• Kiloutou adds fifth specialist division
• Storent makes its US rental move
• Babylon Pump makes milestone acquisition in Australia
• Mills expands in southern Brazil
• Sunstate acquires Washington trench safety specialist
• AFI acquires Quick Reach fleet
• Renta Group acquires container specialist
• Renta expands tunnelling fleet with asset acquisitions
• Kennards Hire makes acquisition in New Zealand
• Altrad buys UK mobile fencing business
• Nixon Hire sells welfare vans to Sunbelt
• Homs Rental finds new private equity investor
• Symal extends rentals with acquisition
• German private equity firm makes Swedish acquisition
• UK Tool Hire acquires Warren Access

Comment

What general conclusions that can be drawn from this list? One thing to point out is the Sunbelt Rentals in the US does not generally make a lot of noise about each individual acquisition it makes, but it is involved in dozens every year as part of its growth strategy in North America. It may not be in the list above, but it is one of the most active acquirers in the world.

In Europe, there is clearly scope for some big mergers to happen between the major players, they just haven’t arrived yet. In the meantime, companies like Loxam, Kiloutou, Renta and Alayan continue to make strategic acquisitions in specific product categories or territories.

Most unexpected deal

Prize for the most unexpected deal involved Latvian rental company Storent with its 70% shareholding in a Texas, US rental business. It wasn’t the biggest deal of the year by a long shot, but definitely one that caught the eye.

From left, Cody Carroll (CEO & co-owner, Connect Rentals), Andris Pavlovs (co-owner & chairman, Storent), Baiba Onkele (CFO & board member, Storent) and Shell Sanford (co-owner, Connect Rentals.)

Although not always through acquisitions, private equity investment in the rental sector continued to be a feature of the market, often involving specialist rental sectors such as pumps or power. It was private equity behind Workdry’s pump rental acquisition in the US during the year, while a UK private equity company was an investor in an Italian power rental firm.

Pump rentals

Pump rental was also proving attractive to Atlas Copco, with its deal to acquire a major pump rental firm in the US to add to its specialty rentals division, and the same was true in Australia, with several pump rental-related acquisitions during the year.

Finally, United Rentals popped up at the end of the year to remind us all that it isn’t just operating in North America. Its deal to acquire Alfasi Hire in Australia was a further move to strengthen its international rental operations, where it already has businesses in Europe, Austsralia and New Zealand.

What does 2026 hold in store? With the US continuing to present good growth opportunities, it is likely that it will remain the focus of M&A action. However, with market conditions improving in Europe, albeit not dramatically, it is possible we will start to see more ambitious deals happening in the region.