National Equipment Dealers LLC has acquired Grove River Machinery, located in Richmond Hill, Ga., just outside of Savannah. NED finalized the acquisition, which will expand NED into Georgia, where the company hopes to grow more in the future.
“With this merger, Grove River Machinery is turning a new, exciting chapter in our 20- year history,” said Dale Richbourg (pictured above), former sales manager at Grove River Machinery. “Our merger with NED will provide us the means to grow our Hyundai market share way beyond our past capabilities.”
Grove River was established by Ken Richbourg 20 years ago primarily as a heavy equipment leasing and financing company, originally known as Grove River Leasing. Over the years the company changed its name to Grove River Machinery as it transitioned from an equipment financing business to a more traditional heavy equipment dealership.
“Building strong relationships and investing in our customers has always been our key to success over the years,” Richbourg said. “Our founder, Ken Richbourg, always believed in partnering with our customers and helping them grow.”
Grove River Machinery successfully represented the Hyundai product line in the greater Savannah, Ga., area for the past 14 years. Ken Richbourg, the founder, passed away at the end of 2019, but his legacy has lived on through the efforts of his wife Jenette and nephew Dale Richbourg. Together they continued to grow the company and support their loyal Hyundai customer base with innovative products and reliable product support.
National Equipment Dealers LLC is a large heavy equipment rental, sales, and services company with a long history of customer service and support. Now under one name, NED is represented across five states with 14 locations in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. NED previously acquired five legacy companies, including Four Seasons Equipment, MAY-RHI, Earthmovers Construction Equipment, Richardson Service 1991 Inc. and Grove River Machinery.
NED represents many brands of construction equipment, industrial equipment, and attachments. Some brands are represented across all locations, like Hyundai Construction Equipment and Bell Trucks and many other brands are represented in specific regions, including Manitou, Mustang, Gehl, Yanmar, Bomag, Dynapac, Sakai, Kinshoffer, Denis Cimaf, Werk Brau, Pemberton Attachments, Tana, Humdinger Equipment, Fuchs, Lamtrac, Builtrite Attachments, Rockland Attachments, Barko, Prinoth, K-Tec, and others.
Will Blackerby, vice president of fleet for NED LLC, assisted with the recent Grove River Machinery acquisition over the past few months. “Dale Richbourg is a proven industry sales professional, who understands that this is a relationship business,” said Blackerby. “Getting to know Dale during this merger only increased the value of this deal, and I couldn’t be happier to have Dale on the NED team.”
Grove River Machinery will become NED’s 14th location, and the first branch in Georgia. The growth plan for the NED Savannah Branch will include a broader product offering. The branch will continue to represent Hyundai Construction Equipment but will expand its offering to include Bell articulated dump trucks, along with other products, which will be added in the future.
“The Grove River acquisition continues NED’s track record of successfully building scale, filling in geographic gaps, and expanding reach through attractively valued and financed M&A,” Blackerby added. The new location in Savannah will be renamed NED, LLC, in accordance with NED’s current company-wide re-branding strategy.
“As fellow Hyundai dealers, we have known the Richbourg family and Grove River Machinery for many years. The timing is right, and we are excited to bring them into the NED family. We look forward to investing time and resources in Georgia to expand our customer base with Hyundai, Bell Trucks and other products,” said Mitch Nevins, NED’s CEO.
