United Rentals buys General Finance Corp. for $996M

Stamford’s United Rentals Inc., the world’s largest equipment rental company, has acquired General Finance Corp. in a $996 million transaction.

united rentals The Pasadena-based General Finance provides mobile storage and modular office space to a wide range of industries including construction, commercial, industrial, retail, transportation, petrochemical, consumer, natural resources, governmental and education.

The company, which operates as Pac-Van and Container King in the North American market and as Royal Wolf in Australia and New Zealand, has a network of 106 branches and more than 900 employees.

“Our acquisition of General Finance will be a significant opportunity for us to further differentiate our value in the eyes of our customers, while providing attractive, long-term returns for our shareholders,” said Matthew Flannery, president and CEO of United Rentals.

“We see strong growth potential from this combination, including our ability cross-sell mobile storage and office solutions to our customers,” he added. “Our expansion into this space comfortably checks all three boxes of our M&A criteria: strategic rationale, financial impact and cultural fit.”