Cross Rental Group, a portfolio company of private equity firm Lonsdale Capital Partners (Lonsdale), has completed the acquisition of Acclimatise Limited (Acclimatise). The acquisition further cements Cross’ position as one of the largest specialist chiller, boiler, heating & air conditioning rental companies in the UK and Irish market and is a signal of Lonsdale’s commitment to continue to invest capital despite the current environment.
Lonsdale has now completed fourteen bolt-on acquisitions for its portfolio companies and eight platform investments, since closing its first institutional fund of £110 million in April 2016.
Cross, which Lonsdale acquired in December 2018, is a market leading provider of rental equipment to both retail and commercial customers. It was established in 2006 and has operations across Ireland and the UK, with its headquarters in Dublin.
Cross has two distinct divisions: Equipment as a Service (EaaS) and Temperature Control (TC). EaaS includes the rental of industrial fridges, ovens and coffee equipment, whilst TC includes the rental of heating and chilling units such as industrial boilers, chillers and air conditioning units.
Acclimatise is being acquired through the TC division following the successful acquisition of Swegon Hire into the same division in November 2019. Acclimatise is a leading HVAC rental specialist focused on chillers, heaters and air-con equipment. In addition, the Company works extensively with various public sector bodies on the provision of specialist equipment, service and maintenance.
Acclimatise provides the TC division with further scale in terms of customers and assets, a Northern hub facilitating much easier UK wide service and a highly experienced engineering team to respond to a range of rental needs.
Cross is actively looking for further bolt-on acquisitions in both the heating and cooling hire space and the commercial refrigeration and catering hire space.
