United-RSC deal to create rental giant

By Steve Andrew: Essex Rental Corp (ESSX) is a market leader in the heavy crane rental industry. The company primarily rents (78% of fleet) crawler cranes used in heavy construction projects such as infrastructure, power generation, petrochemical, and other heavy industrial projects in North America.

United Rentals agreed to buy RSC Holdings in a $1.87 billion cash-and-stock deal that will boost the equipment-rental company's growth with industrial customers.

By ONeil Trader:United Rentals (URI) has been one of the beneficiaries of the construction recovery. Customers are choosing to rent over owning equipment, and that bodes well for the company. It is the largest construction-equipment rental company in the United States. Earnings are coming up next week, and might resolve the current two-month consolidation which came after prior gains.

WHEN Shinzo Abe resigned after just a year as prime minister, in September 2007, he was derided by voters, broken by chronic illness, and dogged by the ineptitude that has been the bane of so many recent Japanese leaders.

Exxon Mobil and BHP Billiton are planning to build the world’s largest floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing and export plant off the northwestern shore of Australia, despite growing concerns about the cost competitiveness of the country’s LNG projects. At around half a kilometre (0.3 miles) long, the vessel would be nearly as long as five football fields laid end-to-end and would be the largest floating facility in the world.

In April 2012, Stratasys and Objet announced plans to merge in an all-stock transaction that would result in a combined company valued at $1.4 billion. The deal, if approved, will create a leader [...]