Rotunda Capital Partners, an operationally-focused private equity firm, has partnered with the management teams of American Equipment, Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane to form the an independent provider of overhead crane and hoist services in the Western U.S. The combined company will operate as American Equipment Holdings with locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

American Equipment’s president and CEO, Adam Zimmerman, will retain a significant equity interest in the company and will lead the combined business. Michael Perera will also retain an equity interest and will continue to provide complex and highly engineered overhead crane and hoist solutions to customers across a diverse range of end markets throughout North America. Dave Costa will continue to support the company and its customers as a special advisor.

“Rotunda has been looking for an investment in material handling distribution and service for some time,” said Ryan Aprill, vice president at Rotunda. “The combination of American Equipment with Pacific Crane & Hoist and Allied Crane brings together more than 100 years of collective industry experience and creates the premier consolidation platform in the highly fragmented North American overhead crane and hoist market.”

“This is an incredible opportunity for American Equipment. From our first meeting, it was clear that Rotunda shared similar views as to the foundation we have created and what our company could achieve,” said Zimmerman. “Through this partnership, our culture and high-touch customer experience that we are known for won’t change, but we gain the expertise and capital to grow in a market with significant opportunity.”

“This deal continues Rotunda’s foundation of acquiring family and founder-owned companies and partnering with strong management teams,” said Corey Whisner, partner at Rotunda. “We look forward to working alongside management to leverage the combined Company’s geographic footprint and comprehensive solution capabilities to expand upon its existing value-proposition, while also accelerating expansion into new geographies and markets.”

“The combination of Pacific Crane & Hoist’s advanced and highly engineered system capabilities with American Equipment and Allied Crane is truly unique and will enable us to address any overhead crane and hoist project or service requirement entirely in-house,” said Perera.

“It provides me with great pride knowing that the company I built for the last 45 years, and our employees will be joining an organization led by Rotunda and the most experienced overhead crane and hoist executives in the industry,” said Costa.