Pioneer Offroad Rentals, a specialized rental company focused on providing off-road equipment to customers in the oil sands regions in Alberta, Canada, has received a growth recapitalization through a major equity investment from Auriga Partners, a private equity firm focused on providing both the capital and resources required to significantly transform middle-market businesses. Los Angeles-based FocalPoint Securities served as exclusive financial advisor to Pioneer.
Pioneer has five locations in Alberta. Edmonton is the headquarters and centralized transportation hub; Fort McMurray and Athabasca serve the Athabasca oil sands; Grand Prairie serves the Peace River oil sands; and Bonnyville serves the Cold Lake oil sands. The management team, including Harry Hoyer, Gene Cowan and Reinhart Anklam will retain a significant ownership stake and will continue to run the day-to-day operations.
“Our partnership with Auriga will enable Pioneer to continue its growth to meet the evolving needs of our customers with additional fleet, locations and services,” said Harry Hoyer, Pioneer president. “We now have the capital to execute our strategy.”
“[Pioneer] has grown rapidly under the leadership of this experienced management team,” said Dan Conway, managing director of FocalPoint Securities. “Demand is strong and the opportunities for growth are very compelling. We were able to effectively communicate the growth strategy and partner the management team with a capital provider that shares their culture and enthusiasm for the industry.”
Pioneer’s management team – Hoyer, Cowan and Anklam – are rental industry veterans with successful track records of growing regional rental companies through organic initiatives and acquisitions. Pioneer specializes in renting argos, ATVs, side-by-sides, snowmobiles and other amphibious and tracked vehicles to help businesses that need to reach locations from 50 meters to 50 kilometers off road. In its Alberta territory there are significant seasonal and geographical obstacles to reaching remote jobsites.
“The United States now imports twice as much oil from Canada as from any other country yet only 16 percent of Alberta’s 170 billion barrels in established reserves is currently under active development,” Conway told RER. “The opportunities for further development of this North American resource over the long term are tremendous and the economics for capital investment are extremely compelling.”
Auriga Partners was founded in 1992 and can be reached at: Peter@AurigaPartners.net.
