LANARKSHIRE company Asset Alliance Group has acquired a refrigerated trailer rental firm based in Staffordshire, for a price believed to have exceeded £1 million.
Willie Paterson, who founded Strathaven-based Asset Alliance Group, signalled an appetite for further acquisitions as he unveiled the purchase of SB Trailers, which trades as Total Reefer and operates a fleet of more than 100 refrigerated trailers on long and short-term rental contracts.
Refrigerated trailers are known in the haulage industry as "reefers".
Total Reefer brings with it two employees, and its managing director, Steve Barker, will take up a senior management post within Asset Alliance Group as part of the deal.
The acquisition takes the total employed by Asset Alliance Group companies to 65.
The price was not disclosed, but is understood to have been more than £1m.
Asset Alliance Group noted the acquisition gave it a presence in a fast-growing area of the trailer market, and it plans to increase dramatically the size of Total Reefer's fleet.
Mr Paterson formed Asset Alliance in late 2009 to fill what he saw as a gap in the market for an organisation which could deliver specialist asset finance, contract hire and fleet management services to businesses operating commercial vehicles.
He previously ran the commercial asset finance division at the former Alliance & Leicester bank.
Asset Alliance Group provides UK-wide coverage from offices in Strathaven, Wolverhampton, and Leeds. It acquired Wolverhampton-based ATE Truck and Trailer Sales in 2011. It describes ATE as the UK's largest independent dealer in new and used HGV (heavy goods vehicle) trucks and trailers.
Mr Paterson, chief executive of Asset Alliance Group, said Total Reefer "fits well with and complements much of our existing customer base".
He added: "The refrigerated sector is one that is expanding quickly, especially in the food industry, and our ambition is to double the fleet per annum over the next three years, with the majority of growth coming from long-term contract rental agreements. We see this acquisition as a key component of our strategy to grow our market share."
Mr Paterson declared ATE Truck and Trailer Sales was "performing well", and revealed plans to expand this business by opening sites in Scotland and north-west England.
He added: "We have also not ruled out the possibility of further acquisitions if we can make the right deal."
Asset Alliance Group concluded a £25 million investment deal with CS Capital Partners III LP, a fund managed by Cabot Square Capital LLP, in December 2011.
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