Investment vehicle drives off with Go Plant
Article Date: Jun 21 2007Vehicle hire group Go Plant plans to expand its geographical reach after it was bought by a private investment company. Easternrange acquired the group from mid-market private equity firm Graphite Capital for an undisclosed sum.
Graphite exits the company 12 years after it backed a £3.5 million buy-out from pharmaceutical distributor AAH. The firm has continued to fund Go Plant’s growth since its original investment and provided £1.8 million to buy Shropshire Road Sweepers in 1999.
Its backing of Go Plant has earned Graphite a return of 4.2 times its total investment.
Go Plant’s managing director, Patrick Tierney, who led the buy-out in 1995, says that with Easternrange’s backing the company will be looking at further acquisitions.
Leicestershire-based Go Plant has a fleet of more than 1,000 specialist vehicles including road sweepers, refuse vehicles and gully-clearing machines. It supplies them for self-hire or with drivers to local authorities, house builders, road maintenance companies and other industrial clients. It operates from 20 depots across the UK and its businesses include J&G Plant, SRS and Go Plant Environmental.
