Continuing to employ a strategy of growth through acquisition, Baton Rouge-based H&E Equipment Services has acquired a Colorado company for $122.4 million.
Contractors Equipment Center is a nonresidential construction equipment company based in the Denver area.
Under the terms of the deal, which is final, H&E also will get CEC’s vehicle fleet, valued at $84 million, and three branch facilities serving markets in the nonresidential construction and other sectors.
The acquisition increases H&E’s branch count in the Colorado market to six, significantly expanding the company’s presence in a strong nonresidential construction market, H&E CEO John Engquist says in a statement.
H&E’s ongoing growth strategy is to acquire rental companies that complement its existing business and footprint. H&E sought last year to purchase Miami-based Neff Corporation for $1.2 billion in a deal that would have doubled the company’s number of branches along the Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West Coast regions from 78 to 147. The deal, however, fell apart after United Rentals offered to buy the company for $1.3 billion.
