H&E Equipment Services Sells its Komatsu Earthmoving Distribution Business to Waukesha-Pearce
H&E Equipment Services Inc. today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell its Komatsu earthmoving distribution business to Houston-based Waukesha-Pearce Industries LLC. The transaction includes rights to the distribution of earthmoving equipment in the state of Louisiana and counties located in southwestern Arkansas, along with a distribution facility in Kenner, La., and certain other equipment, parts and supplies.
Also, H&E will assign to WPI the outstanding lease on its distribution facility in Bossier City, La. H&E will retain ownership of its rental assets located at the remaining seven rental branches in Louisiana. The transaction is expected to close by December 31, 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
“Just over a year ago, we completed the divestitures of our crane business and Arkansas earthmoving distribution business, significantly reducing our exposure to distribution activities,” said H&E Equipment Services CEO Brad Barber. “With the sale of our Komatsu earthmoving distributorship in the state of Louisiana, we are effectively completing our transformation to a pure-play rental business. This final step will allow us to sharpen our focus on the higher margin rental business as we continue our evaluation of strategic-growth opportunities in the equipment rental industry.”
H&E Equipment Services, based in Baton Rouge, La., is No. 7 on the RER 100.
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.
