HOUSTON - Prime Equipment and Rental Service Corp. rental companies owned by the Stockholm, Sweden-based Atlas Copco Group, will merge into one company with two distinct brands, officials announced last month.
The combined company will operate as Rental Service Corp., U.S.A. Prime Industrial Services will market to industrial customers, while RSC will concentrate on the construction market. The new legal entity will be effective Jan. 1. The company will be based at offices in Houston and Scottsdale, Ariz.
Tom Bennett will continue as chairman and CEO of Atlas Copco's Rental Service Business Area. Art Droege will be deputy senior vice president of the RSBA, and Doug Waugaman has been named president and chief operating officer of the restructured RSC.
Droege, a veteran of 24 years with Atlas Copco, half of them spent outside the United States, also will guide the company's international expansion. Already established in Canada and Mexico, the company will grow its presence in those countries and is considering expansion in South America and Asia. "We hope to establish ourselves in Brazil soon, and we're looking at other Latin American countries," Droege said. "We're also investigating the Asian markets."
Bennett told RER: "Prime and RSC are ideal partners. With this new structure, we are in the unique position to provide our customers with the specialized focus they require. We're looking for every available way to become more efficient, to help us focus on the needs of both industrial and commercial customers."
The executives emphasized that the ability to serve customers more efficiently is the motive of the merger. "Prime has had a higher percentage of industrial business up to now, and RSC has been stronger in the commercial area," Waugaman said. "We're aligning strengths to service strengths."
Bud Howard, vice president of sales and marketing, added: "We are two large organizations positioning ourselves as the number two player in the industry. We use a common computer system and an integrated marketing strategy. There are a lot of synergies between the companies."
There might be realignment of facilities according to the market segments they specialize in, Bennett said. Because there is minimal territorial overlap between the merging companies, facility closings are expected to be very few, he added, with the merger leading to expansion rather than contraction.
"We've opened 87 new stores this year, adhering to RSC's hub-and-spoke concept, and we plan to continue our growth," Bennett said. "We'll look at acquisitions, and if a major platform company comes along that makes sense, we'll consider it, but fresh cold starts will be our growth strategy. And any time you go into a new market, it makes sense to go in with previously experienced people, so there will be a lot of new opportunities for our employees."
The two companies combined have more than 570 locations, 7,000 employees in North America.
The combined Prime/RSC is No. 2 on the RER 100 with $828 million in 1999 rental revenue.
FARGO, N.D. - RDO Equipment has filed suit against Credit Suisse First Boston, alleging it conspired with John Deere Construction Equipment to unreasonably restrain trade in the purchase of Deere dealerships.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, North Dakota, seeks unspecified damages and comes about three months after RDO sued John Deere Construction Equipment for terminating its dealer agreement.
Deere and Credit Suisse last year formed Nortrax, a joint venture to consolidate the Deere dealer network. Nortrax acquired Neff's dealership business for $91 million about a year ago.
RDO, which sold its rental division to United Rentals this year, has 54 locations in nine states, including headquarters in Fargo.
