Crane Rental Corp. recapitalization

PCE Investment Bankers announced the recapitalization of Crane Rental Corp., based in Orlando, Florida, USA. The partnership with Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Co. Inc., a private equity firm, will enable Crane Rental to continue to expand and grow in response to increasing demand for crane and transport services, according to a statement.

Debt financing was provided by PNC and Babson Capital, the mezzanine funding arm of MassMutual. PCE Investment Bankers, an investment bank for middle market companies, initiated the transaction and was financial advisor.

Founded in 1960, Crane Rental is a leading provider of equipment and services for projects requiring heavy lifting, rigging and hauling. Power plant construction and maintenance, industrial manufacturing, office buildings, theme parks and infrastructure development are among Crane Rental’s clients. Under the current leadership of Alan Ashlock, second generation family owner, Crane Rental has expanded beyond serving the Southeast market to become a nationally ranked company that continues to excel at safety, service and providing innovative equipment for complicated projects.

By recapitalizing, Crane Rental has greater financial resources to excel. “One of the most appealing aspects of a partnership with HKW is their reputation for assisting strong companies with their next level of growth while allowing existing leadership to continue in current roles,” said Ashlock. “It was important for us to be able to continue delivering the same quality service along with maintaining our exemplary safety standards.”

Ashlock said that partnering with HKW will give Crane Rental the additional financial strength to aggressively fuel its growth and maintain its inventory of state-of-the-art equipment. “We just agreed to purchase one of the largest production built cranes in the world, the Manitowoc 31000,” Ashlock said. “This will increase our ability to serve the power industry in all facets, including the expected expansion into nuclear power. This piece of equipment is the largest purchase Crane Rental has ever made, with the price exceeding our capital expenditures for the last two years.”

PCE’s Michael Rosendahl said, “Not all investors are created equal. In addition to deep pockets, HKW brings experience and national relationships in the equipment rental and power generation industries. They’re the perfect fit for Crane Rental and allowed the shareholders to take some chips off the table.”

HKW is a private equity firm in Indiana with offices in New York, Chicago and Shanghai. Over the last 25 years, HKW has sponsored 33 platform management buyouts of small middle-market companies throughout North America as well as 37 add-on acquisitions. PCE Investment Bankers is an investment bank for mid-market companies, offering its clients a full range of investment banking services, including mergers and acquisitions support, business valuations, litigation support, growth capital options, fairness opinions, advisory planning, research and stock-index services. PCE has offices in Florida.