Monroe Truck Equipment Acquires Trailer Maker Towmaster
Monroe Truck Equipment has acquired trailer manufacturer Towmaster Inc. Towmaster, based in Litchfield, Min., makes a range of trailers and delivery vehicles for the construction and rental markets. Towmaster also manufactures, distributes and installs truck equipment for the municipal and commercial markets specializing in snow- and ice-related equipment.
Monroe is a designer, manufacturer, distributor and installer of specialized truck equipment. The company upfits heavy, medium and light-duty vehicles for municipal, commercial and fleet customers. It is a portfolio company of Industrial Opportunity Partners, a private-equity firm based in Evanston, Ill.
The acquisition of Towmaster will add the Litchfield, Min., location to its installation facilities in Marshfield, Wis.; Flint, Mich.; Joliet, Ill.; and Louisville, Ky.
“The addition of Towmaster to our company is exciting on a number of fronts,” said Dave Quade, president of Monroe Truck Equipment. “Towmaster is a well-run company with an experienced and capable management team. Their trailer product line is a nice extension to our current products. Towmaster’s truck equipment division is well-established and gives us a larger footprint in the upper Midwest.”
“By entering into this relationship with Monroe, we will have access to capital, engineering resources, manufacturing capabilities and an expanded operational perspective," added Lennie Stuck, president of Towmaster. "Our goals are to reduce lead times, increase product offerings for both divisions and maintain our high standards of quality and service. The current management team will remain in their roles at the Litchfield facility.”
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.