21.11.2016

Hewden situation tightens

UK crane, access and telehandler rental company Hewden is still struggling to refinance its debt which is due to mature in the coming months, and according to a Sky News and other reports this weekend it has appointed EY as an advisor, possibly leading to administration.

This follows the lack of progress with potential investors, including private equity firm Alchemy Partners. See Hewden debt restructuring

The company does still have time to find a solution that would avoid insolvency, but it is also likely that EY will recommend that it seeks protection from its creditors earlier, rather than later. The news report claims that an announcement is likely sometime this week.

Vertikal Comment

The problem when it gets to this stage is that reports such as this from the major news sources, such as Sky and the Telegraph, inevitably escalate the situation, although some would say it simply accelerates an inevitable process.

Hopefully it will not come to this, the UK administration system is a total scandal, which does not serve the failing company, suppliers or customers- it tends merely to enrichen the insolvency practitioners. Hewden has made some significant progress in the past year or two, it has a strong brand and a decent depot network, and with Sterling weak it could be a relatively inexpensive way into the UK market for one of the international rental groups?