Lex announces £4.5m Hewden Tools sale and leaseback

The acquisition of Hewden Tools by Lex customer Speedy Hire PLC has seen the UK’s leading contract hire company complete one of the largest sale and leaseback agreements in its history.

Lex handed over a cheque for £4.5m, after it purchased 740 cars and vans from Hewden Tools and leased them back on the day the acquisition by Speedy Hire was announced to the Stock Exchange (1 August).

This extends the sole supply Speedy Hire fleet on contract hire with Lex to over 2,500 vehicles, including more than 1,500 light commercials and nearly 1,000 cars.

Some of Hewden’s fleet are on short term contracts and will be replaced in 2008, while the rest have been transferred onto Speedy Hire’s 30-month and 36-month replacement policy for vans and cars respectively.

From 1 January Lex will begin to rebrand the Hewden vehicles as Speedy Hire. Lex continues to supply and manage Speedy Hire’s fleet on a non-maintenance Contract Hire basis.

Fleet Director for Speedy Hire, Ian Leonard, said: "The timing was key to the Hewden sale and leaseback and working with Lex from an early stage helped us deliver the whole project to meet the 1st of August deadline. It reinforces our partnership approach and shows that working with good suppliers helps add value to our business and to shareholders," said Ian Leonard, Speedy Hire's Fleet Director.

“Both our companies have a very similar ethos of profitable growth and providing exceptional customer service. We both worked hard to deliver the Sale and Leaseback on the 1 August as part of the overall Hewden acquisition,” explained Jon Walden, Lex Managing Director.