b'KENNARDS HIRE Since 1948TAKING HIRE HIGHER | 62SPREADING ACROSS AUSTRALIA to be a minor acquisition on paper, but it gave Kennards After a few minor purchases, the next big one was theHire a strategic entry point into Perth and a good 1996 buyout of the ten-branch Queensland companyfootprint to launch a bigger network. Jonkers Hire. Six were earmarked to become new Kennards Hire outlets, two were merged with existing KennardsThe next few years saw many acquisitions, expanding Hire branches, and two were closed. That deal doubledcurrent markets and pushing further out into the the number of branches in the Brisbane and Gold Coastregions. But it was a full decade later, in 2011, that areas, giving Kennards Hire more locations than any of itsKennards Hire finally cracked the Northern Territory, competitors, and bringing the total number of Kennardswith the purchase of Top End Hire. That added Alice Hire branches to thirty-nine. Springs, Palmerston, Winnellie and Coolalinga.Next, in 1998, Pete and Andy had the southern states inEverybody knows the Territory is a different world, and their sights. Richard Stevens Hire was South Australiasthings might be done a little differently there, but they oldest hire operation, having been around since 1953.eventually welcomed the opportunity to let Kennards The business had been passed on by Richard StevensHire make their jobs easier in Australias Top End.senior to his sons, Richard and John, who built it into the states biggest hire company.INTERNATIONAL GROWTHNow that it was a truly national business, with branches Lawyer Roger Harkin, who assisted with the purchase,everywhere from the north shores of Sydney to beyond remembers it well. After late-night negotiations withthe black stump, Kennards Hire started to look across the lenders at the Commonwealth Bankthe details ofthe ocean. New Zealand hadnt really been on the radar, which were written at our end on a beer coasterthebut in 2012, the owner of McEntee Hire, Bill McEntee, settlement proceeded. It was celebrated by all partiesapproached Kennards to see if they would be interested that afternoon with a bottle of Grange, he says. in buying his business. The price was right, so Kennards Hire bought the lot. But when they acquired McEntee The Stevens acquisition also allowed Kennards HireHire for around $7 million, they had to immediately shell to scoop up BE Hire, putting the company into fiveout another $10 million for new equipment because the major industrial suburbs of Melbourne. BE Hire was thegear at McEntees was in poor shape, and the depth largest privately owned general equipment hire companyand range needed expansion. in Victoria when Richard Stevens bought it in 1992. The two subsidiaries were bundled up and added toKennards Hire wanted to keep as many of McEntees Kennards Hire rapidly expanding empire. staff as possible, so they swooped in and the nine branches were fully Kennardised practically overnight, In the year 2000, the acquisition of Town & Countryin a tale that has become the stuff of legend in the Hire grew Kennards out of the cities and into thecompany. The staff involved in that acquisition trip regions, putting stores in Queanbeyan, Wagga Waggadescribe it as being both exhilarating and exhausting. and Mitchell. That same year, it was time to head westThe physical work was one thing, but Jihad Farah across the Nullarbor and cash in on Western Australiasrecalls the backend of the move. The effort that went mining boom. The purchase of Multi-Hire, a family-ownedinto effectively replicating the setup we had here company with three underperforming branches, seemedin Australia, having to register new companies and'