BOOM LOGISTICS LTD, Australia’s largest crane rental company, has agreed the acquisition of the assets and operations of Brambles Bowen Cranes from Brambles Australia Ltd for A$11.5m (US$8.9m).
Brambles Bowen’s main customer base is the coal mines in the Bowen Basin, Queensland. Boom’s last acquisition, Bower’s Heavy Haulage & Crane Service in New South Wales in October 2004, is also active in the coal mining sector.
Boom said that the latest acquisition would be earnings positive and largely funded from moneys raised in a recent placement and share purchase plan. It will also take its crane fleet to more than 350 units.
Boom Logistics was formed in 2001 through the merging of mobile crane hire companies Uniway, Midland and Alpha in Western Australia and tower crane company Sutville in Victoria. In November 2002 it bought the Perth operations of the dismembering Brambles and later added Brambles’ Goldfield operations. The group floated on the Australian stock exchange in October 2003, raising money to acquire five more companies: Conmore Cranes and Heavy Lift Cranes in Victoria, Port Kembla Cranes in New South Wales, Purcell Cranes in Western Australia and Holts in Queensland. Bower was added in 2004.
