Briggs Equipment UK is refusing to comment on rumours circulating around Forkliftaction.com's Discussion Forums that the UK's national Cat Lift Truck distributor is set to announce a take-over of Yale UK this week.

There has been widespread speculation about the move for some time, and sources have indicated that an announcement is due shortly.

Forkliftaction.com News contacted Briggs executive David Bratton, but he declined to provide any input.

A Discussion Forum participant formerly tied to Briggs UK tells Forkliftaction.com News that a Briggs' acquisition of Yale UK could significantly impact the UK forklift market.

"This is the first step in further consolidation in the UK forklift market where all the major players are finding it difficult to make a return due to unrealistically low rental rates," he says.

The source adds that if Briggs became the Yale UK dealer, this would make it a direct competitor for Barloworld, which distributes Hyster forklifts in the UK.

"Barloworld, with its Hyster brand and Briggs, with its CAT brand, are already fierce competitors in the UK. It will be interesting to see how this brand strategy plays out as they [could] both be selling - to all intents and purpose - the same truck but with a different name (Hyster and Yale)."

Barloworld was also contacted for comment on this story, but we received a "not in a position to comment" response.

Watch this space for further developments of this story.