Hyde Park Finalizes Essex Crane Rental Acquisition

Nov. 7, 2008
Hyde Park Acquisition Corp. last week completed its acquisition of privately held Essex Holdings and its subsidiary Essex Crane Rental Corp. The acquisition was completed after Hyde Park shareholders voted to approve it, also changing its name to Essex Rental Corp. Based in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, Ill., Essex is one of North America’s largest providers of lattice-boom crawler cranes and attachments with more than 350 cranes and attachments in its fleet.

Hyde Park Acquisition Corp. last week completed its acquisition of privately held Essex Holdings and its subsidiary Essex Crane Rental Corp. The acquisition was completed after Hyde Park shareholders voted to approve it, also changing its name to Essex Rental Corp. Based in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, Ill., Essex is one of North America’s largest providers of lattice-boom crawler cranes and attachments with more than 350 cranes and attachments in its fleet.

“We are focused on building long-term value for our shareholders and intend to pursue a variety of organic and acquisition-driven growth opportunities,” said Essex president and CEO Ron Schad. “We will continue to reposition our crane rental fleet away from lower lifting capacity cranes towards higher lifting capacity equipment, which has historically produced higher monthly average rental rates and higher utilization rates. We are excited about the pace of new contract-related activity, the addition of new equipment to the fleet, and the continued strength of Essex’s end markets, including infrastructure and energy, and look forward to the future with confidence.”

“The company’s operating performance has demonstrated significant year-over-year improvement, allowing us to continue to exceed the March 2008 projections upon which the transaction value was predicated,” added Laurence Levy, chairman of Hyde Park, who will remain Essex Rental Corp. chairman. “Essex is a market leader in the heavy lift crane segment, has a diverse customer base, addresses growing end markets and operates under a business model characterized by low operational risk and attractive margins.”

Essex Rental Corp. last week also announced that it will issue third-quarter 2008 unaudited financial results for Essex Crane Rental Corp., on Tuesday, Nov. 11, after the stock market closes. Schad and Marty Kroll, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Essex, will conduct a conference call to discuss the financial results at 9 a.m. Eastern time on Nov. 12.

Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing 706-902-1803 10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin (conference ID# 72458762). The conference call will also be webcast live and will be accessible at: http://event.meetingstream.com/r.htm?e=126212&s=1&k=F48D23146767C44444 079A387AF8F7E2.

Essex Rental Corp. is No. 32 on the RER 100.