Companies

United Rental Expands Its Industry Leadership With H&E Acquisition

United Rental Expands Its Industry Leadership With H&E Acquisition
An excavator piles road salt in preparation for Winter Storm Kenan at the Boston Public Works Department yard in Boston on Jan. 28, 2022. Scott Eisen/Getty Images
Panos Mourdoukoutas
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Mergers and acquisitions activity picks up almost by the day as the new year unfolds. It’s touching one industry after another: JCPenney and Sparc Group in the retail industry, Constellation and Calpine in the energy sector last week, GSK and IDRx in the biotechnology industry on Jan. 13, and United Rentals and H&E Equipment Services in the equipment-rentals industry on Jan. 14.

The buyer in the latest deal is United Rentals, an industry giant that has grown significantly thanks to a stream of acquisitions that have expanded the scale and scope of its operations. It’s paying $92 per share, or $4.8 billion, for H&E Equipment Services in a strategic transaction that will help United Rentals grow its core capabilities, both in size and geography.
Panos Mourdoukoutas
Panos Mourdoukoutas
Author
Panos Mourdoukoutas is a professor of economics at Long Island University in New York City. He also teaches security analysis at Columbia University. He’s been published in professional journals and magazines, including Forbes, Investopedia, Barron's, IBT, and Journal of Financial Research. He’s also the author of many books, including “Business Strategy in a Semiglobal Economy” and “China's Challenge.”