Neff Rental to Go Public

Neff Rental last month announced it is planning an initial public offering of as much as $345 million in common stock.

Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank, CIBC World Markets, Robert W. Baird & Co., and William Blair & Co. will underwrite the IPO, according to a preliminary offering document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Odyssey Partners, a private investment firm, acquired control of Neff with a major re-capitalization in June 2003. If the IPO succeeds, it will be Neff’s second stint as a public rental company. The company, then owned by South Florida’s Mas family, major shareholders in MasTec, a major construction company that specializes in the installation of telecommunications, completed an IPO in 1998 when it raised nearly $90 million. Neff was suspended from the New York Stock Exchange in 2001 and began trading on the OTC Bulletin Board until it was de-listed in June 2003.

The company intends to list its shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol NEFF, according to its SEC filing. Neff hopes to use the proceeds primarily to reduce debt. Neff expects to redeem all of its outstanding 13 percent senior subordinated notes due 2013, repay $51.8 million of drawings under its ABL credit facility due 2010, and pay $10.9 million in fees and expenses related to the offering.

Included in the S-1 filing were Neff’s first-quarter 2006 results, reporting adjusted EBITDA of $32.3 million, compared with $19.4 million during the same period of 2005. Operating income of $16.3 more than doubled from Q105. Rental revenue rose 30 percent in the first quarter, resulting primarily from a 7.7-percent increase in rental rates and an expanded rental fleet. Same-store rental revenue rose 30.7 percent. Dollar utilization increased to 50.5 percent from 46.3 percent in the prior year period.

Based in Miami, Neff is No. 9 on the RER 100.