Rental Equipment Investment Corp. Acquires Columbia River Machinery

Rental Equipment Investment Corp. has purchased all the assets and certain liabilities of Columbia River Machinery, an equipment rental company based in Hermiston, Ore. REIC is an equipment rental holding company with 21 locations in five states.

Michael Roth

Jan. 5, 2017

Columbia River Machinery is the fifth company in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain region acquired by REIC.

“Columbia River Machinery is an excellent well-run company with a management team led by Mr. Morgan Neal,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, CEO of REIC. “Having a store already in Bend, Ore., as well as several stores in western Idaho makes this acquisition a perfect fit for our group of stores. We plan to continue to expand in our existing region and look to open up new regions in the near future.”

Rental Equipment Investment Corp., led by Fitzgerald and other private investors, made its first acquisition in December 2014 when it acquired Midway Rental in Montana. In the middle of 2015 REIC acquired Reliable Equipment Rental in Wheatland, Wyo. In January of 2016 it purchased Hillside Rental in Evans, Colo., and in May acquired Pro Rental & Sales, with branches in Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

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.