Morbark, LLC has completed the acquisition of Rayco Manufacturing Inc. This transaction represents the first addition since affiliates of the private equity firm Stellex Capital Management LP acquired Morbark in 2016. The purchase of Rayco represents a significant move towards the company’s strategic focus on broadening the range of tree care and industrial equipment, aftermarket parts, and service offered to their customers.
Rayco was founded in 1978 in Wooster, Ohio, by John Bowling, who as the owner of a tree care service identified the unique needs of the tree and landscape industry and began to build equipment to meet those needs. Today the company is dedicated to the design and production of a line of environmental equipment. The current range of Rayco products includes: stump cutters, crawler trucks, forestry mulchers, multi-tool carriers, and attachments, brush chippers and the all-new AT71 aerial trimmer.
“Our family is very proud of the legacy we have established and nurtured over the past 39 years,” said Bowling, Rayco CEO. “As a family-run and -owned business, we view today’s transaction as an opportunity to continue growing our business while joining an even larger family.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Rayco to the Morbark portfolio of companies,” said Dave Herr, Morbark CEO. “Rayco is a company that our senior management team has admired for a long time. We value the long-standing success of Rayco and are committed to providing the Bowling family and their dedicated employees the resources they need to continue the success they have built.”
Transaction Highlights:
- The transaction is a positive, strategic fit for both companies. Rayco brings a lineup of innovative equipment into the Morbark family across multiple product categories. In particular, Rayco stump cutters, aerial trimmers, forestry mulchers and crawler trucks will enhance and complement the existing Morbark family of products.
- Rayco founder, John Bowling, will continue his work with the team to develop new products and help improve the company’s existing product lines. He will continue to have an economic interest in the combined business and will be a member of Morbark’s board of directors.
- Morbark will operate Rayco as a new division maintaining its brand identity. Rayco’s experienced management team will continue to manage their operations. Teams from each company will work together to determine how to be more efficient and leverage each other’s strengths.
“Rayco has a well-deserved reputation for providing customers with the equipment and service they demand and the value they deserve,” added Herr. “That product innovation and dedication will continue without interruption. We are excited by what we can bring to Rayco in the way of our experiences, our dealer network and products to complement current Rayco equipment owners.”
Morbark is based in Winn, Mich.
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.