Battle is on for Lavendon as French join the fray

An overseas bidding battle for Lavendon Group kicked off today as France’s Loxam joined the hunt for the £350 million equipment rental firm.

Loxam, which is Europe’s biggest equipment hire group, said it had made a “preliminary approach” about a possible cash offer and urged shareholders of the London-listed group not to back Belgian firm TVH’s £348 million hostile bid.

“Discussions with Lavendon are ongoing and there can be no certainty that any offer will be made, nor as to the terms of any such offer,” Loxam said.

Lavendon, which operates in Europe and the Middle East, told its investors “to take no action at this stage”, but did not go as far as rejecting the offer.

TVH tabled a 205p-a-share bid last week, but said it would not splash out more unless another bidder came to the table.

Shares in Lavendon jumped 12.5p, or 6%, today to 216.75p, above TVH’s offer.

However, the share price still remains below the level from 2014.