H&E Equipment Services to Acquire Rental Inc. in Alabama and Florida

H&E Equipment Services has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rental Inc., a non-residential-construction-focused equipment rental company with five branches in Alabama and Florida. Under the terms of the agreement,
Jan. 29, 2018
2 min read

H&E Equipment Services has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rental Inc., a non-residential-construction-focused equipment rental company with five branches in Alabama and Florida. Under the terms of the agreement, H&E is expected to pay approximately $68.6 million in cash for Rental Inc., subject to customary adjustments. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, and is subject to customary closing conditions.

“With five branches located in Auburn/Opelika and Dothan, Alabama; Fort Walton Beach, Panama City and Tallahassee, Florida; the acquisition of Rental Inc. will significantly improve our ability to serve customers in South Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Western Georgia, all of which we believe are expansion or recovering markets,” said John Engquist, H&E’s CEO. “Rental Inc. is a well-run and respected equipment rental and sales company that primarily serves customers in the non-residential construction markets. As of November 2017, Rental Inc. generated revenues of approximately $36.4 million for the last 12 months and its rental fleet size was $35.9 million, consisting of aerial, earthmoving, lifting, and general rental equipment. They are also a Bobcat distributor in four of their five locations.”

Joe Scherzinger, Rental Inc. CEO said, “Our company is very excited to become part of the H&E team. While we have recognized success in the markets we serve and established outstanding customer relationships, we believe H&E’s scale and access to capital are significant benefits to both our customers and H&E’s ability to expand its business in this part of the Southeastern United States.”

Based in Baton Rouge, La., H&E Equipment Services, No. 9 on the RER 100, is one of the largest integrated equipment services companies in the United States with 83 full-service facilities throughout the West Coast, Intermountain, Southwest, Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.

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.

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