Northwest Capital Appreciation, a Seattle-based private equity firm, last week announced that it has partnered with management and GE Asset Management to purchase Coast Crane Co., which is also headquartered in Seattle. Coast Crane is one of the largest crane distributorships on the West Coast. The company has 13 outlets specializing in crane rental, sales and service stretching from San Diego to Anchorage, Alaska, and Western Canada.
“We are excited to partner with Coast’s strong management team and look forward to growing the company with the help of CEO Dan Goodale and his team,” said Brad Creswell, a partner at Northwest Capital Appreciation. “Dan and his management team have built an outstanding company and we are privileged to be able to partner with them in this acquisition.”
With more than $100 million in annual revenue, the acquisition of Coast Crane by Northwest Capital is one of the largest management buyouts led by a Seattle-based private equity firm in recent years.
“Coast has grown substantially over the past few years as a result of strong commercial, energy and power and infrastructure construction markets, and an increase in maintenance projects by our 4,000 plus customers along the West Coast,” said Goodale.
In addition to the company’s significant presence in the United States, Coast Crane also has a sizeable business in Western Canada. According to Goodale, demand for cranes on the West Coast as well as worldwide has never been greater and he sees this phenomenon lasting into the foreseeable future.
Coast Crane was purchased from Audax Group, a Boston-based private equity firm, which had previously purchased the company several years ago from the company’s founder, Ralph Hovis who started the company in 1971, in Portland, Ore. According to John Jacobs, a partner at Northwest Capital Appreciation, “a great foundation had been laid by the previous owners and our goal is to provide Coast with the capital and resources necessary to enable the company to continue to take advantage of the robust growth environment on the West Coast and in Western Canada.”
Northwest Capital Appreciation is a private equity firm whose mission is to acquire and grow middle-market companies located on the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada.
A wholly owned subsidiary of General Electric Co., GE Asset Management is a global asset manager with approximately $196 billion in assets under management at the end of 2006.
