Burnt Tree acquired by vehicle hire giant Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Shropshire-based vehicle hire firm Burnt Tree, which employs 400 people across the UK, has been snapped up by one of the industry's biggest companies.

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Enterprise Rent-A-Car has acquired the Shrewsbury business for an undisclosed sum, including its fleet of 17,000 vehicles and 20 branches nationwide.

At present the company will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand alongside Enterprise's commercial vehicle hire division, Flex-E-Rent.

But the two could later be combined as a single entity which will be headquartered at Burnt Tree's existing modern headquarters on the Battlefield Enterprise Park in Shrewsbury.

The acquisition improves Enterprise's value in the flexible commercial vehicle rental market, and brings its total fleet size to more than 25,000.

Enterprise UK and Ireland managing director, Mike Nigro, said: "We are committed to the growth of our flexible commercial vehicle business, which has grown organically in recent years.

"We could immediately see the potential of Burnt Tree to give our customers access to skills and services that are particularly suited to the needs of commercial vehicle customers. Burnt Tree also has the same culture of delivering outstanding customer service as Enterprise and shares a rich heritage of conducting business in the UK.

"Burnt Tree has some unique expertise that it can bring to Enterprise and it will also benefit from becoming part of a truly global organisation. The combined business post-acquisition will be far stronger with greater economies of scale and better technology, while the transfer of knowledge will allow us to better serve our customers."

The new business will be led by Danny Glynn, a director of Enterprise Flex-E-Rent. Burnt Tree chief executive, Richard Metcalfe, will remain in an advisory capacity to help steer the direction of the combined business.

Burnt Tree has regularly featured in the annual Sunday Times Profit Track list of the country's fastest growing privately-owned businesses.

It came in 14th place on this year's list, after achieving profits of £10.3 million in the previous year thanks to 94.94 per cent growth in the three preceding years.

Mr Metcalfe said: "Last year we stated our ambition to become the leading and largest business in our industry.

"In time, this agreement will allow Burnt Tree to achieve its full potential to become the market leader. It will become part of the world's largest vehicle rental company, which, like Burnt Tree, is privately owned.

"I know that there is both the vision and resources to grow the business over the long-term, which means there will be opportunities for people here.

"I would like to thank everyone sincerely at Burnt Tree for all their hard work and for making the business such a success. This agreement marks the next phase of growth for the business."

Burnt Tree has been operating for more than 30 years, while Enterprise has been in the UK for 20 years.

Enterprise also operates a fleet of more than 60,000 vehicles from its car hire branches. It has 7,300 offices in the UK, Germany, Ireland, the USA and Canada.

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