By Brazil Stock Guide – French equipment rental group Loxam agreed to buy control of Mills Locação, Serviços e Logística S.A. (MILS3) in a transaction estimated at about R$1.9 billion, marking one of the most aggressive moves by a European player into Brazil’s machinery and equipment rental market. The agreement covers 50.3% of Mills’ share capital at R$16.00 per share, a 22% premium to the May 22, 2026 closing price, with the full amount to be paid in cash at closing.
The price will be adjusted from the 31st day after the material fact until the effective closing of the transaction by 70% of Brazil’s CDI interbank rate, a mechanism that partially preserves the financial value of the deal if regulatory approvals extend the timetable.
Global control
The transaction places Mills under the umbrella of the largest equipment rental company in Europe. Founded in 1967, Loxam reported €2.5 billion in net revenue in 2025, has about 11,600 employees and operates a network of roughly 1,130 branches in more than 28 countries across four continents. In Brazil, the company has been present since 2015 through Loxam do Brasil and A Geradora.
For Mills, the deal closes a chapter of founder-family control and opens a new phase of consolidation in a sector directly exposed to construction, infrastructure, industry, energy, events and services. The company said its founding family had long sought to preserve Mills’ legacy by bringing it closer to relevant global players, and that Loxam’s interest in expanding in Brazil made the transaction a complementary step with potential value creation for stakeholders.
A Brazilian platform
Mills is not a small bolt-on acquisition. Founded in 1952, the company spent more than seven decades moving from scaffolding and shoring into a broader equipment rental platform, with its 2010 IPO marking the start of life as a listed company. In recent years, it reshaped the business after a turnaround, expanded in aerial work platforms, entered yellow-line equipment, moved into intralogistics and added Next Rental to its portfolio.
That evolution turned Mills into what it describes as Brazil’s largest rental company, with more than 10,000 clients, around 65 branches, more than 2,000 employees and the largest fleet of electric equipment in Latin America. Its portfolio now stretches from aerial platforms, compressors, generators and lighting towers to excavators, loaders, compactors, forklifts, pallet trucks, formwork and shoring systems.
The company is also less dependent on a single construction cycle than it once was. Mills says 55% of rental revenue now comes from long-term contracts, while its 2025 rental mix shows a broader platform: 46% from aerial work platforms, 24% from yellow-line equipment and adapted trucks, 16% from formwork and shoring, 11% from forklifts and pallet trucks, and the rest from other products.
The latest results help explain Loxam’s appetite. In the first quarter of 2026, Mills reported R$235.1 million in adjusted EBITDA, up 13.8% from a year earlier, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 50.3% and ROIC of 20.5%. Leverage stood at 1.1 times net debt to EBITDA, with an average debt cost of CDI + 1.08% and about 95% of debt maturing in the long term — the profile of a platform that can be scaled, not a distressed asset that needs to be fixed.
Mandatory offer
The closing of the acquisition remains subject to customary conditions, including approval from Cade, Brazil’s antitrust regulator. Once the transaction is completed, Loxam will be required to launch a public tender offer to acquire all remaining Mills shares at the same price paid to the controlling shareholders, adjusted by Brazil’s Selic benchmark interest rate between the closing of the control transfer and the settlement of the offer.
The structure is designed to ensure equal treatment for minority shareholders under Brazilian corporate law, CVM rules, Novo Mercado regulations, Mills’ bylaws and the agreement itself. Mills and the sellers were advised by Lazard, Trindade Sociedade de Advogados and Lefosse Advogados. Loxam was advised by Euro Latina Finance, Spinelli Advogados and Demarest Advogados.
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