United Rentals Acquires 20-Location Rental Company Franklin Equipment

United Rentals has acquired Franklin Equipment LLC, a regional provider of equipment rentals, sales and related services in the Midwest and Southeast United States, headquartered in Groveport, Ohio.

Michael Roth

April 15, 2021

2 min read

Franklin Equipment Chattanooga 1 607786e7b31a6

United Rentals has acquired Franklin Equipment LLC, a regional provider of equipment rentals, sales and related services in the Midwest and Southeast United States, headquartered in Groveport, Ohio. Franklin Equipment was founded in 2008, and grew to 20 locations serving general contractors in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Franklin Equipment was one of the fastest-growing equipment rental companies in North America.

“Today we welcomed over 300 new members to Team United with our acquisition of Franklin Equipment,” said United Rentals CEO Matthew Flannery. “This acquisition expands our presence in key markets for our general rentals business, with an experienced team that shares our pride in delivering superior customer service.”

Franklin was founded in 2008 by four partners – Gary Gabriel, Troy Gabriel, Tom Richardson, and Tony Repeta, who have more than 150 years of experience in the rental industry. The Gabriel family began in the equipment industry in 1952 when Gary’s father opened Sam’s Equipment Rental, which grew to five locations and became the leading rental company in Central Ohio before it was sold to NationsRent in 1997, the same year United Rentals was founded.

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as United Rentals’ legal advisor in the transaction, and Lape Mansfield Nakasian & Gibson, LLC acted as Franklin Equipment’s legal advisor.

Franklin Equipment is No. 40 on the RER 100. United Rentals, Stamford, Conn., is No. 1.

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.