TRAFFORD PARK: Tool and equipment hire specialist HSS Hire Service Group is on the brink of being sold to Exponent Private Equity and sale could be announced by the end of the week, reports the Manchester Evening News.
HSS was put up for sale earlier this year. Hedge fund Och-Ziff has a majority stake in the business, whose other major investor is Aurigo, Och-Ziff and Aurigo paid £310m for HSS in 2007 and are expected to sell it for a considerably higher sum.
HSS, which is led by chief executive Chris Davies, employs more than 300 people at its operations in Greater Manchester, which along with the company's HQ include a call centre in Urmston, a regional distribution hub in Ancoats, Manchester, and an equipment refurbishment centre in Trafford Park.
It has 2100 staff in total and operates a network of about 230 branches. The business achieved underlying earnings of £39.8m in 2011 on turnover of £180.2m.
