Essex to auction crawler fleet
Essex Rental Corp. will be offering a portion of its surplus crawler crane inventory in a sealed bid auction.
“In an effort to accelerate the sale of currently underutilized cranes, we have engaged Hunyady Auction Company to manage the sale of certain of our crawler cranes in a sealed bid auction,” said Ron Schad, president and CEO of Essex. “The assets being offered represent approximately six percent of our crawler crane fleet. Over 80 percent of the crawler cranes that will be listed for sale are traditional cranes whose utilization and return on capital have been unsatisfactory.”
Unlike a live auction where equipment is sold to the highest bidder, in a sealed bid auction potential buyers propose a price they are willing to pay for a particular crane and Essex has the ability to determine whether the offered price is acceptable, Schad said.
“As with prior sales, we will use the proceeds from the sale of excess equipment to repay debt and to improve our fleet,” Schad explained.
The company said it is continually evaluating its rental assets to ensure they meet the needs of customers and provide the highest possible return for shareholders.
The bidding period on the assets offered in the sealed bid auction is scheduled to end on March 18, 2014 at 5 p.m. eastern time.
Essex, through its subsidiaries, is one of North America's largest providers of rental and distribution for mobile cranes (including lattice-boom crawler cranes, truck cranes and rough terrain cranes), self-erecting cranes, stationary tower cranes, elevators and hoists, and other lifting equipment used in a wide array of construction projects.
Late last year Schad tendered his resignation as president and CEO of Essex Rental Corp. He said he would stay on in his capacity until a replacement was named.
PRO CONTRACTOR RENTALS MAGAZINE
Pro Contractor Rentals provides information of value to rental centers who focus time, resources and attention on meeting the demands of construction contractors and other equipment rental customers.
