News

Darby Private Equity, the private equity arm of Franklin Templeton Investments, announced that Darby Converging Europe Fund III has completed an investment in SIA Storent Holding, acquiring a majority in the firm. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Storent is one of the leading construction and industrial equipment rental companies in the Baltics, operating 23 rental depots across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Storent was founded in 2008 by Andris Bisnieks and Andris Pavlovs, who remain significant shareholders and will continue to manage the business going forward.

"The financial support we have received from Darby will allow us to further expand our business," said Bisnieks. "Following Darby's investment, we will continue to implement our growth strategy of developing our equipment fleet and strengthening market share in the core Baltic region, and we will also evaluate opportunities to enter new markets," added Pavlovs.

"Storent is very well positioned to benefit from the trend of increasing outsourcing of equipment fleets within the construction industry. Our investment will allow the company to expand its equipment fleet and add new equipment categories. We are excited to be supporting a successful management team with a proven track record of developing the business throughout difficult times. We also believe Storent has a good platform for further international expansion," commented Arkadiusz Podziewski, principal based in Darby's Warsaw office.

Superia Corporate Finance acted as the financial advisor to Storent in the transaction.