Manitowoc is to acquire the assets of Aspen Equipment, a crane dealer and truck bodybuilder/installer based in Bloomington, Minnesota – due south of Minneapolis – for around $51 million. Completion is expected in September.

Aspen sells and rents Grove mobile and Manitowoc crawler cranes, along with National Crane and Elliot boom trucks, Palfinger loader cranes and Palfinger Pro mechanics trucks, along with Bronto Skylift truck-mounted lifts. It operates from four locations in Bloomington/Minneapolis, Omaha in Nebraska plus Davenport and Des Moines in Iowa.

The acquisition will expand Manitowoc’s direct sales and service coverage in Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota to both rental companies and end-users. Aspen’s field support team is also expected to help boost the company’s direct product support coverage network for all of its brands – Grove, Manitowoc and National Crane. It follows the recent acquisition of H&E Equipment Services – see: Manitowoc acquired H&E.

Manitowoc chief executive Aaron Ravenscroft, said: “We are pleased to reach this mutually beneficial agreement with Aspen which will position Manitowoc closer to our end markets in the U.S. and complement our pending acquisition of H&E Equipment’s crane business.

Aspen is a well established, proven dealer with great fitting capabilities which will fit great with Manitowoc’s National Crane boom truck product offering. We look forward to welcoming the Aspen team to the Manitowoc family. We expect this acquisition will be accretive to adjusted EBITDA in year one.”

“Over the years, Aspen Equipment has developed numerous innovative lifting and final-configuration truck solutions for a variety of end customers. This customer centric approach will provide Manitowoc a solid platform for growth.”