Aerial Access Equipment, a Baton Rouge, La.-based equipment rental company specializing in rental of mobile elevating work platforms, forklifts, cranes and earthmoving equipment, is preparing to shut down, the company told the Advocate newspaper. The company has branches in Lake Charles, New Orleans, La., and Houston and Beaumont, Texas. In mid-September, AAE hired Tiger Group to conduct an online auction of a fleet that included more than 1,500 cranes, forklifts and excavators, the Advocate reported. The auction proceeds will be used to repay creditors.
Aerial Access was founded in 1998 by Gene Torrence and grew large enough to be listed on the RER 100 from 2010 through 2017, with total revenues reaching $34 million. In 2017, the company’s gross revenue was $33 million, The Advocate reported.
The Advocate reported that the business experienced fraud by a former controller, who was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $460,000 in company funds between 2012 and 2015 to pay for personal expenses.
In 2004, Atlanta-based private equity firms acquired the company. It was recapitalized in 2007 by Source Capital, which purchased 75 percent of the company's assets, Torrence told RER in a 2011 interview. In 2008, Aerial Access acquired Onsite Equipment Maintenance to expand the business, the Advocate said, and later acquired Cooks Coastal Rental in Spanish Fort, Ala.
To read The Advocate article, go to: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/business/article_23918fb8-ef5a-11e9-8557-afd7e3d1f3fe.html
