Mills Estruturas e Serviços de Engenharia S.A

—

What it is

Founded in 1952 by the Nacht family and listed on the Brazilian stock exchange since 2010, Mills has grown into Brazil’s largest equipment-rental company, with annual revenue of R$1.8bn (~US$350m) in 2025.

Its fleet of roughly 16,000 machines spans four lines: aerial work platforms (the segment where it is the largest operator in Latin America), heavy earth-moving equipment, intralogistics gear such as forklifts, and formwork-and-shoring systems for concrete construction.

The company serves a broad client base through 65 branches across Brazil. Its customers are principally in infrastructure, construction, and manufacturing.

—

Who owns it

In a securities filing on 25 May 2026, Mills confirmed that its controlling shareholders — the founding Nacht family, Southern Cross Group, and Sullair Argentina — had agreed to sell their entire combined holding, equal to 50.3% of the share capital, to France’s Loxam SAS, valuing the firm at roughly R$3.8bn (~US$760m).

The agreed price is R$16 per share — a 22% premium to the 22 May closing price — with the control block alone worth about R$1.9bn (~US$369m). After that transfer clears, Loxam is required to make a public offer for all remaining shares with the stated aim of taking Mills private; the deal is subject to antitrust approval.

Until closing, the ownership split is roughly: the Nacht family, Southern Cross Group, and Sullair Argentina together hold 50.3%; the structured data shows institutional investors hold a further ~32%, leaving a free float of around 18%.

—

Who runs it

Sergio Carrillo is CEO and Renata Vasco serves as CFO and Investor Relations Officer.

Francisca Nacht, a third-generation member of the founding family, serves as Co-Chair of the board. The management team has an average tenure of more than eight years — long by Brazilian listed-company standards.

—

The money, in plain words

Revenue has grown steadily for three straight years: R$1.38bn (US$268 mn) in 2023, R$1.58bn (US$307 mn) in 2024, and R$1.84bn (US$357 mn) in 2025 — a compound rate of about 15% a year (our calculation). Net profit has risen each year too, reaching R$301m (~US$58m) in 2025.

For every real of sales in FY2025, the company kept about 16 cents as net profit — a net margin of 16.4% (our calculation), healthy for an equipment-rental operation that must finance a large physical fleet. On a trailing basis the margin is higher still, at 22.8%, reflecting operating leverage as revenue grows.

For every real shareholders have put in, Mills earns back about 26 cents a year — a return on equity of 26.3%, well above what most Brazilian industrial companies achieve. The stock trades at only 8.5 times earnings (price-to-earnings of 8.5×), cheap by global peers, which partly explains Loxam’s appetite.

The balance sheet carries net debt of about R$1.44bn (~US$279m) against annual operating income of R$618m (US$120 mn) (our calculation from structured data) — manageable. Leverage stood at 1.1 times net debt to operating cash earnings as of Q1 2026, with roughly 95% of debt falling due in the long term.

—

What it is doing now

Q1 2026 delivered record revenue and double-digit growth in operating cash earnings, with leverage hitting a two-year low and cash generation surging.

Long-term contracts now make up 55% of rental revenue, making the income stream more predictable — a fact that makes Mills easier to value and easier to finance at scale inside a larger group like Loxam.

In mid-2025 Mills acquired the operations of Next Rental / Linha Amarela for R$180m (~US$35m) in cash, a deal pending antitrust clearance that added heavy-equipment fleet capacity.

—

What to watch

• CADE clearance. The Loxam acquisition requires approval from CADE, Brazil’s antitrust regulator. If approved, Mills will be delisted and absorbed into the world’s fifth-largest rental group.
• Delisting tender. Following completion, Loxam will launch a mandatory tender offer for all remaining shares on the same terms, with the objective of taking the company off the exchange. Minority holders should monitor the timeline.
• Brazil infrastructure cycle. Mills’s growth is tied directly to construction and industrial activity; a slowdown in public works or a rise in Brazil’s already-high interest rates would pressure both fleet utilisation and the cost of carrying R$1.87bn (US$363 mn) of debt.
• Competitive pressure in light equipment. Pricing competition in the lighter aerial-platform segment persists, even as heavier and intralogistics lines expand margins.

—

This is news, not investment advice.