Crane 1 Services, a portfolio company of L Squared Capital Partners, has acquired Standard Crane & Hoist.
Standard Crane is a provider of overhead crane inspections, repairs and maintenance, parts, and new cranes with eight locations across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The company is headquartered near New Orleans in Destrehan, Louisiana.
Standard Crane can trace its origins back to 1909 when it was founded by Cal Hadden as the Standard Supply Company, a provider of industrial supplies to companies operating in the Gulf Coast region. Beginning in 1990, under the management of President Mac Hadden, the grandson of the founder, the company pivoted to the overhead crane market and was renamed Standard Crane.
“Our team at Standard Crane has built an incredible company. Providing great products and excellent service to our customers is and will always be our main priority. We have grown by investing in the crane-specific expertise of our employees who in turn produce the quality cranes and services for which we are known,” said Mr. Hadden.
Crane 1 provides services and equipment for industrial and commercial users of new and refurbished overhead cranes and hoists. The company’s services include inspections, maintenance, repair, design and installation. Crane 1, led by President and CEO Thomas Boscher, was founded in January 2007 and is headquartered just north of Cincinnati in West Chester, Ohio.
L Squared’s third fund acquired Crane 1 from Pfingsten Partners in August 2021, and the purchase of Standard Crane is the company’s fourth add-on acquisition under L Squared’s ownership. This follows the acquisitions of Pennsylvania-based D&S Hoist and Crane (February 2022), North Carolina-based Hoist & Crane Systems (May 2022), and Pennsylvania-based Magnetic Lifting Technologies (September 2022).
With the close of the acquisition of Standard Crane, Crane 1 now has nearly 500 employees and operates in 30 locations across 18 states.
“The purchase of Standard Crane aligns well with our Crane 1 strategy of growing through highly selective acquisitions with companies that have excellent reputations in the overhead crane market while allowing us to expand our geographic service footprint,” said Mr. Boscher. “The combination of our companies adds another strategic building block for Crane 1 as a leading, independent technical field service company focused on providing safe and exceptional solutions which lead to enhanced equipment uptime and reliability for our customers.”
“Standard Crane is a high-quality company and shares the key values we seek in partners as we expand our national footprint,” said Sean Barrette, a partner at L Squared. “It has deep customer relationships grounded in exceptional customer service which is a strong foundation for us to grow long term in the southern United States market. We are excited to welcome Mac and his team to the Crane 1 family and look forward to building our footprint in the region in the coming months and years.”
Newport Beach, California-based L Squared invests from $50 million to $125 million of equity in North America-based companies that have revenues of $20 million to $125 million and EBITDA of $5 million to $30 million. Sectors of interest include tech-enabled services and software, education technology, and industrial technology and services.
L Squared is led by Robert Healy, Jeff Farrero, Sean Barrette, Randall Hunt and Adam Kimura, all of whom worked together at Chicago Growth Partners prior to founding L Squared in July 2014. In November 2023, L Squared held the final closing of its fourth fund with $840 million of capital. The firm’s earlier fund closed in September 2020 with $505 million of capital.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | August 9, 2024
