Warrington-headquartered equipment hire company A-Plant has bought an air conditioning specialist and a hoist hire equipment provider.

A-Plant has acquired the business and assets of the hire and sale division of Rapid Climate Control out of administration. Neil Gostelow and William Wright, insolvency practitioners at KPMG, were appointed joint administrators of West Thurrock-headquartered Rapid Climate Control on Monday, 18 January 2016.

Immediately after their appointment, they sold Rapid's hire and sale division to A-Plant, part of the listed Ashtead Group.

Neil Gostelow, director at KPMG and joint administrator, said: "The disposal of the hire and sales division to A-Plant is an excellent strategic fit combining Rapid's first-class reputation in the hire and sale of air conditioning and heating units with A-Plant's strong brand and broad customer base.

"The sale secures over 60 jobs for Rapid's skilled and loyal workforce and secures the best possible return to the company's creditors.

"Unfortunately, however, the other two divisions of the company proved to be unattractive to potential buyers. We will be assisting those 24 affected employees in claiming redundancy payments from the Redundancy Payments Office."

At the same time, A-Plant has also announced the purchase of hoist hire equipment provider GB Access. The newly acquired company will operate as an independent business within A-Plant's specialist products division.

The deal adds more than 300 hoists to A-Plant's fleet, as well as more than 30 service vehicles, and several pick-up trucks and 32-tonne eight-wheel construction chassis rigid lorries fitted with Palfinger lorry-mounted cranes.

Richard Thomas, managing director of A-Plant's specialist products division, said: "GB Access is a long-established and well-respected hirer of hoists and this acquisition affords us new capabilities to even better serve our customers who use lifting equipment.

"We believe that the GB Access hoist hire product range, along with its dedicated team, will open up new specialist opportunities for us in this sector."

GB Access director Pat Barford added: "I am confident that the support from A-Plant and the commitment to invest in the very best equipment currently available will enable us to grow the business going forward, and will affirm and maintain this division of A-Plant as the premier hoist rental company in the UK."

GB Access was advised by Benchmark International.

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