Borgman Capital Sells Portfolio Company Aerial Work Platforms Inc. to Herc Rentals
Borgman Capital, a lower middle market private equity firm, announced the sale of its portfolio company Aerial Work Platforms Inc., an equipment rental company, to Herc Rentals Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1979, AWP specializes in the rental, service and sale of aerial lift equipment including scissor lifts, boom lifts, telehandlers and forklifts. Borgman Capital acquired AWP in December 2020 from the company’s founder, Pat Barney. AWP has locations in Sussex, Janesville, Neenah and Kenosha, Wis., and, according to Borgman, is the number one independent rental equipment company in the state based on fleet size.
During the three-year investment period, AWP’s growth was driven by strategic equipment purchases, fleet diversification, operational improvements, geographic expansion to Kenosha and increasing market share. Following Barney’s planned retirement, Borgman Capital hired rental equipment industry-veteran Robert Rivera as president.
“We executed many new growth initiatives during the investment period. At the end of the day, AWP’s success comes down to Robert’s leadership and the strong customer service culture he built,” said Sequoya Borgman, founder and CEO of Borgman Capital. “AWP is an example of what’s possible when the right leader is put in place to build on a founders’ legacy after an ownership transition. It was a pleasure to partner with Robert and the team over the last three years and we will be cheering everyone on in their next phase of growth.”
“The outstanding success we achieved is a direct result of the incredible talent at AWP,” said Rivera. “The team's dedication to customer service will remain our focus as part of Herc Rentals. I am appreciative of Borgman Capital’s support and the latitude I was given to lead, set ambitious goals and make the pivotal decisions needed to grow the business.”
Herc Rentals is one of the leading equipment rental suppliers in North America with 2023 total revenues of approximately $3.3 billion and is No. 3 on the RER 100. Herc Rentals’ parent company, known as Herc Holdings Inc., listed on the New York Stock Exchange on July 1, 2016, under the symbol HRI. Herc Rentals serves customers through approximately 400 locations and has about 7,200 employees in North America.
Reinhart Boerner van Deuren served as Borgman Capital’s legal counsel on the transaction.
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.