Merger of Three Companies for Water and Liquid Solutions
Kinderhook Industries LLC today announced the formation of Ironclad Powered by Mersino (IPM), a national infrastructure solutions platform serving the water management and specialty liquid containment markets. IPM is created through the merger of Ironclad Environmental Solutions, Mersino Water Solutions, and Global Pump — three organizations with complementary capabilities and a shared commitment to mission-critical performance in the field.
This unified platform is purpose-built as a total solutions provider to solve the fragmentation problem prevalent across complex industrial and municipal projects where water and liquid management have historically been handled by separate vendors, contracts, and chains of accountability. Ironclad Powered by Mersino says it will eliminate these seams by providing one engineered solution, one contract, and one accountable team for the entire liquid lifecycle.
The company will be led by Gino Mersino as CEO and Joseph Brunetti as president.
“This merger establishes a premier platform for the full spectrum of water and liquid management,” said Sam Keenan, managing director of Kinderhook. “Ironclad Powered by Mersino is built to be a national leader with the technical depth of Mersino’s engineering, the fleet scale and containment expertise of Ironclad, and the manufacturing precision of Global Pump. Together, they create a category of strength at scale.”
The Liquid Lifecycle
“For decades, Mersino and Global Pump have been known for the best engineers, the best pumps, and the commitment to stay until the work is done right,” said Mersino. “Joining forces with Ironclad amplifies that commitment and capability. Our customers have always trusted us with the water; now they can trust us with their entire liquid lifecycle. That’s what a total solution means.”
“The promise is outcomes: achieved by world-class equipment, systems, and experts,” said Joseph Brunetti, president of the company. “By powering the Ironclad platform with Mersino’s engineering grit, we are providing a shield around our customers’ projects. Whether it’s high-volume bypass pumping, dewatering or complex liquid containment, we own and protect the entire lifecycle, maintaining compliance and mitigating risk.”
“At Kinderhook, we build market leaders by combining specialized expertise with deep asset bases,” said Rob Michalik, also managing director of Kinderhook Industries. “By unifying these strengths into a single national platform, we provide the technical knowledge and physical capacity required to resolve our customers’ most complex water and liquid challenges with absolute certainty.”
The company’s leading national position is backed by a large specialized rental fleet and unsurpassed field expertise, including 70+ branches across the U.S., 40,000+ specialized liquid containment assets, and 1,800+ specialized pumps. Furthermore, the platform is vertically integrated with proprietary equipment designs and owned manufacturing through Global Pump, ensuring faster response times for every project.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to the company and Kinderhook. Debt financing for the transaction was provided by a syndicate led by Twin Brook Capital Partners with participation from Crestline Investors, MidCap Financial, Canal Road, Willow Tree, and Comerica Bank.
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.