A plant hire company based in Sussex is part of £9 million buyout.

Cox Plant, of Burgess Hill, was taken back in to private ownership following the deal with parent firm Andrews Sykes Group.

Former senior executives of both firms led the buyout, funded by a combination of debt, sale and leaseback of property and the hire fleet, with support from Caterpillar Financial Services.

Keith Price, a former finance director of Andrews Sykes, Paul Bamford, a senior operations executive with Cox, and David Symon, an international plant and equipment dealer, have executive roles in the new company.