Allegiance Crane & Equipment and Prophet Equity, have completed the purchase of the assets of General Crane USA, whose liquidation plan received final court approval on Dec. 17, 2010. Retaining more than 100 employees of General Crane, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Allegiance is already expanding its workforce, with many projects underway or in the pipeline, according to Jim Robertson, the company’s president.
Robertson noted the company will make “a seamless transition” in providing crane, rigging, and hoisting services on current projects in Florida , Alabama , Louisiana , Mississippi , Texas, and Oklahoma . He previously served as managing partner of General Crane USA .
General Crane has been in Florida’s construction market for 35 years, but began its reorganization plan in the economic downturn of late 2009, when the slowing construction market saw many of its developer clients abandon projects.
“Partnering with the financial strength of Prophet Equity gives our veteran team opportunities to better serve our clientele as we look to a dynamic future,” said Robertson. He added that Allegiance serves clients in increasingly diverse industries, including the construction, petrochemical, power, refinery, healthcare, education, and governmental sectors. The partnership with Prophet Equity will help expand Allegiance’s multi-state capabilities and enable it to compete for projects that require the most stringent qualifications to perform at the highest level.
“Our equity fund specializes in breathing new life into exactly the type of enterprise and situation we’ve found with Jim Robertson and the General Crane USA team,” noted Ross Gatlin, Prophet Equity’s CEO and Managing Partner. “We have a distinctive track record of providing the capital needed to not only preserve existing value in situations like this, but also to invest in and unlock future value through additional capacity and growth from this strong platform for years to come.”
Southlake, Texas-based Prophet Equity uses proven, data-driven analytical techniques, coupled with more than 100 years of investment and management experience, to invest in, unlock and realize future value today, according to a company statement. The private equity firm’s principals have successfully invested in and managed approximately $400 million of control equity in more than 30 entities like Allegiance Crane & Equipment, with $4 billion plus in aggregate revenue historically.
“Our operational toolkit is ideally suited for not only optimizing current operations and capacity, but also for rapidly deploying additional operations and capacity wherever those opportunities arise,” commented George Stelling, Prophet Equity’s COO.
Allegiance Crane & Equipment will build on General Crane USA ’s long-time leadership in customer service, quality and safety. General Crane USA has been recognized as a top ranking firm for safety and recently ranked 17 points better than the industry safety average in Workers Compensation claims. Employee satisfaction and retention remained high throughout the reorganization process, Robertson said. “Our people have returned our commitment to them, enthusiastically supporting this opportunity to launch renewed growth,” he added.
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