Brambles Industries has sold Brambles Equipment Services (BES) Inc, its North American equipment rental business, to Chicago, USA-based National Equipment Services (NES) Inc, which rents specialty and general equipment.

NES paid USD122 million for BES, of which USD94 million was cash. The balance is to be paid "later". The time frame was not released. Brambles had USD160 million in net assets and reported gross earnings of USD9 million for the financial year ending June 30, 2001.

The divestment of BES is the eighth in Brambles' quest to exit equipment rental worldwide. The NES deal follows the sale of Wreckair Hire, its Australian equipment rental business, to former competitor Coates Hire in December. Brambles sold its Australian forklift rental pool to Portland, Oregon-based Nacco Materials Handling Group in November 2000.

Forkliftaction.com broke the news in December that Brambles and NES were in discussions, although neither company would comment at the time.