January 6, 2022

New York, NY – Kinderhook Industries, LLC (“Kinderhook”) announced today the acquisition of Rental Equipment Investment Corporation (“REIC” or the “Company”) in conjunction with Kevin Fitzgerald, the Founder and CEO. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Kalispell, MT, REIC is a premier, super-regional, rental equipment services platform.  The Company offers its customers a broad selection of general and specialty rental equipment. REIC’s general rental fleet includes aerial, earthmoving, power, compression, and other small equipment pieces, while the specialty fleet focuses on HVAC equipment. The Company serves its customers from 32 strategic locations spread across the Pacific Northwest to Upper Midwest.

Kevin Fitzgerald, Founder and CEO of REIC, said, “Partnering with Kinderhook will allow us to accelerate our organic growth plan and further penetrate underserved markets.  In addition, I’m very excited to pursue strategic add-on acquisitions and continue opening new specialty greenfield sites which will help grow our business and increase market share.”

“Kevin has successfully grown REIC into one of the largest regional rental equipment companies in seven years.  REIC is a highly scalable, growth-oriented platform and we are thrilled to help facilitate the acceleration of the Company’s already impressive growth.” said Paul Cifelli, Managing Director at Kinderhook.

“We are excited to partner with Kevin and his leadership team, who continue to develop a reputation as a consolidator of choice in the rental services industry.  We believe that REIC’s complimentary divisions, deep customer relationships and proven track record of success position the business to capitalize on numerous positive industry tailwinds” said Nate Druckenmiller, Vice President at Kinderhook.

As part of the transaction, Kinderhook will be adding Chris Ragot to serve on the Company’s board of directors. Mr. Ragot previously served as the Chairman of Utility One Source (rebranded to Custom Truck One Source), where he was responsible for executing the concept of uniting several regional equipment dealers and rental services companies into one large entity that served utility customers across the United States.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Kinderhook. Lincoln International served as the exclusive financial advisor and Akerman LLP acted as legal advisor to REIC.  Financing for the transaction was provided by a PNC Capital Markets bank syndicate, which included Flagstar Bank, Axos Bank, BancAlliance, Banc Hapoalim, and First Merchants Bank.

For additional information about this transaction, please contact: 
Paul Cifelli
Managing Director
(212) 201-6797
[email protected]
 
Nate Druckenmiller
Principal
(212) 201-6791
[email protected]