In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Sime Darby Bhd’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Sime Darby Allied Operations Pty Ltd, has proposed to acquire Australia-based Onsite Rental Group Ltd for RM1.92 billion.
The acquisition will be financed entirely through external borrowings and agreed on a cash-free and debt-free basis. However, it will be subjected to any price fluctuations which will be determined upon completion of accounts.
The completion of acquisition of the Australian equipment rental service provider is expected to take place in Q4 of the financial year ending June 30, 2023 pushing up Sime Darby’s gearing ratio to about 0.45 times from 0.31 times as at June 30, 2022.
Onsite Rental Group is an over-a-century old company strategically positioned across the resources, infrastructure and energy sectors and will provide geographic expansion to Sime Darby Allied Operations Pty Ltd.
The management team of Onsite Rental will be retained and Sime Darby looks forward to working with them to build on its leadership in the mining and construction equipment rental market in Australia.
Onsite Rental currently has about 500 employees through a network of about 30 branches across Australia and hopes upon being acquired by Sime Darby to invest into adjacencies, achieve supply chain efficiencies and expand into new markets.
-NIAGATIMES
