event rentals

CE Rental, a Dubin Clark portfolio company, has acquired Skyline Tent Company, a provider of tenting and large flooring systems to events throughout the Southeast.

Skyline Tent has an extensive inventory of structures including sailcloth tents, structure and frame tents; lighting and power systems, tent flooring, tent accessories, and tables and chairs. The company has offices in Charlottesville, VA and Charleston, SC (www.skylinetentcompany.com).

CE Rental is a provider of event rental equipment including linens, fine china, flatware, dinnerware, tents, tables, and chairs. The company serves customers in the mid-Atlantic market. CE Rental was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Raleigh, NC (www.cerental.com).

“Both CE Rental and Skyline are leaders in their respective markets. We are enthusiastic about the expanded growth opportunities by bringing together two of the premier tabletop and tenting providers in the industry,” said Brent Paris, Managing Partner at Dubin Clark.

“The partnership between CE Rental and Skyline Tent greatly expands our strategy of being the premier full-service rental provider on the East Coast,” said James Auerbach, Senior Vice President at CE Rental. “We are excited to leverage the exclusive tabletop and tenting offerings of both CE Rental and Skyline in all of our existing markets and beyond.”

The buy of Skyline Tent is the third add-on acquisition completed by CE Rental since being acquired by Dubin Clark in February 2017. The two earlier acquisitions were Capital Party Rentals (Dulles, VA) and Festive Fare Rentals (Charlottesville, VA).

Dubin Clark invests in companies that have from $10 million to $100 million in sales and at least $2 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, value-added distribution, and services. In July 2017, the firm closed its oversubscribed second fund, DCCP Fund II LP, with more than $100 million of capital commitments. Dubin Clark has offices in Boston, MA and Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (www.dubinclark.com).

“Joining Skyline Tent and CE Rental is a fantastic opportunity for both companies. Our new combined group will work together to elevate the quality of events in the markets we serve, and will allow us to offer all of our customers the very best combination of tents, tabletop rentals, and service across the Southeast,” said John Hingeley, President of Skyline Tent.

© 2017 Private Equity Professional | November 9, 2017

M&M Event Rentals, a portfolio company of Dubin Clark, has acquired Celebration Event Rental. This is the sixth company the firm has acquired in the event rental equipment sector and continues a consolidation effort which began in December 2014.

Celebration Event Rental provides event rental equipment including tables, chairs, tents, linens, and place settings to commercially-oriented customers such as catering and food services companies, educational institutions, event venues, corporate accounts, event planners, and not-for-profit organizations. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered just west of Dallas in Grand Prairie, TX (www.celebrationeventrental.com).

“Due to the quality of its product and customer service, this merger made complete sense,” said Scott Berk, President of M&M’s Texas Operations. “Celebration has made a name for itself in the special events market in the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex and we can’t wait to bring our inventories together to offer even more to our clients’ event needs.”

In December 2014, Dubin Clark acquired Peterson Party Center (later renamed PPC Event Services), a renter of party and event equipment including table linens, tents, and chairs. PPC is based near Boston in Woburn, MA (www.petersonpartycenter.com). In April 2016, PPC acquired Chicago-based Rentals Unlimited, a renter of party and event equipment. Earlier in 2016, PPC also acquired Canton, MA-based Reserve Modern, a renter of tables and chairs.

In March 2016, Dubin Clark acquired M&M Event Rentals, an event service company that provides tables, chairs, linens, tents, lighting, and other equipment for weddings, social parties, and corporate events in the Chicago metropolitan and Dallas Ft. Worth metro areas. M&M is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Carol Stream (www.mmspecialevents.com). In July 2016, Dubin Clark acquired BBJ Rentals, a provider of special event linen rental products and services to weddings, social and corporate events. BBJ Rentals was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Niles (www.bbjlinen.com). M&M and BBJ Rentals have not been consolidated with PPC and stand as a separate portfolio investments in Dubin Clark’s portfolio.

Dubin Clark invests in companies that have from $10 million to $100 million in sales and at least $2 million of EBITDA. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, value-added distribution, and services. The firm was founded in 1984 and has two offices, one in Boston and the other near Jacksonville in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (www.dubinclark.com).

San Antonio-based The Stansberry Firm (www.thestansberryfirm.com) represented Celebration Event Rental on this transaction.

© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 8-4-16