After being undercut by a strategic bidder, Baton Rouge’s H&E Equipment Services says it’s ending efforts to acquire the Neff Corporation, a regional equipment rental company based in Miami.
In a statement issued this morning, H&E says it will not submit a revised proposal to acquire the company and will permit Neff to terminate its merger agreement.
“We will remain disciplined on the price that we pay for assets. We intend instead to pursue an accelerated strategy of greenfield expansion and opportunistic roll-up acquisitions which we believe will be a higher and better use for our resources,” H&E CEO John Engquist says in a prepared statement.
H&E announced in July that it planned to acquire Neff for $21.07 per share. The entire deal was valued at $1.2 billion.
But on Monday, the Neff Corporation said it had received a better buyout offer of $25 per share and had informed H&E’s board that it intended to terminate their merger agreement.
The acquisition would have doubled H&E’s number of branches in the Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West Coast regions from 78 to 147.
