Kingsbridge Holdings Acquires Utah’s Western States Equipment Co.
Kingsbridge Holdings LLC, based in Lake Forest, Ill., has acquired Western States Equipment Co. Inc. of Salt Lake City.
Kingsbridge Holdings LLC has a long history of lease financing in the industrial, healthcare, technology and general equipment spaces. This is its first acquisition into the “bricks and mortar” equipment rental industry.
“We researched the industry and looked at countless opportunities and when the opportunity was presented to us, we knew it was the right fit and the perfect entry point for our firm,” said Dan Flagstad, co-CEO of Kingsbridge Holdings LLC. “Western States Equipment is a great rental company with strong management, has the mix of equipment that we desired with a heavy emphasis on aerial equipment, has excellent facilities and is in a good market for us to enter into the traditional equipment rental space.”
Western States Equipment Co. Inc. is a leading independent rental company in Salt Lake City and has been in business for more than 20 years. It moved into its newly built facility in 2015.
“We are thrilled to have sold our business to the folks at Kingsbridge,” said David Costanzo, owner of Western States Equipment Co. “We had multiple qualified potential buyers and it was an easy decision once we met the principals of Kingsbridge, including John Morand, co-CEO, and Dan Flagstad. Our employees and customers alike are in very good hands and it will be exciting to see them take the company to the next level. I’d also like to thank Fred Hageman for his handling of the entire process and making this deal possible.”
The Company will continue to be operated as Western States Equipment Holdings, LLC and Mark Christison will continue with the company as general manager.
Western States’ headquarters, built in 2015, has a 17,000-square-foot building. The facility sits on five acres of land, with drive-around and drive-through capability.
Fred Hageman of Rental Acquisitions, LLC represented Western States Equipment Co. in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.