Property services group Irish Estates has acquired Beverly Smyth, Nat Ross, Oman Transport, McConnells and Hire-A-Crate in a deal worth up to €14m.
The companies, which provide a range of services including removals, storage and crate hire, had a combined turnover of around €15.6m last year, with earnings of around €1.6m. They have branches in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Kildare.
Irish Estates said the deal was in line with its strategy of becoming an integrated property services group, while there were opportunities for cross-selling as many of its existing customers would have frequent removal, storage and crate hire needs. Irish Estates will create a new removals and storage division within the group to cater for the new businesses.
The company will pay an initial €12m, 77% in cash and 23% in shares, with another €2m depending on the achievement of financial targets.
Shares in Irish Estates closed up nearly 7%, up 20 cent at €3.20 in Dublin this evening.
