Construction-crane firms in Trevose, Pittsburgh to combine

Two Pennsylvania firms that supply construction companies with rental cranes are consolidating operations, in a match made on Wall Street.

Apollo Global Management L.L.C., the giant New York private-investment group cofounded by Sixers co-owner Josh Harris, says a group of its funds have agreed to buy both AmQuip Crane Rental of Trevose, which is owned by Clearlake Capital Group L.P., and Pittsburgh-based Maxim Crane Works, a larger rival controlled by Platinum Equity.

Sellers Clearlake and Platinum are based in California.

Apollo plans to combine AmQuip and Maxim into a single firm with 1,950 construction cranes for rent across the United States and Canada.

The joint company will be run by Pittsburgh-based Maxim chief executive Bryan Carlisle, while AmQuip CEO Albert Bove will stay on to run the Trevose operation for now and "play a senior role in the integration."

What will be left in Trevose after "integration"?

"Clearlake declines to comment," said Kristin Celauro, a spokeswoman for Clearlake, which bought AmQuip in late 2014. At the time, AmQuip employed 200 and had sales of about $150 million a year.

Apollo won't name its price but noted that it has had to hire JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Barclays, and Jefferies Finance to borrow enough money to pay for Maxim and AmQuip.

Founded in 1967, AmQuip claims 6,600 customers for its 550 cranes at 13 branch offices serving 36 states. Maxim, founded in 1966, lists 7,500 customers for 1,400 cranes at its 31 branches.

"This combination represents an opportunity for us to build a world-class organization with the best people in the crane industry," Carlisle said in a statement. He promised customers "an enhanced level of service, expertise, equipment and geographic coverage."

In a statement, Apollo partners Larry Berg and Antoine Munfakh called the Maxim-AmQuip deal a "unique opportunity to combine two premier businesses in the North American lifting services market."

Louis Samson, of Platinum Equity, said he is leaving the new owners "a fundamentally strong business" that had managed previous acquisitions.

Wall Street firms collecting fees for making the deal include Barclays (adviser to Apollo), PNC's Harris Williams & Co. and Oppenheimer & Co. (which together advised AmQuip and Clearlake) and Goldman Sachs & Co. (Maxim).

Source: Philly.com