Heil Environmental Sells Its Truck Equipment Business.
Published in: Dixie Contractor
Date: 10/2/2006
Heil Environmental has sold its truck equipment business, consisting of the Heil Truck Equipment Group and Heil South distributorship, to Truck Bodies and Equipment International, Inc., a portfolio company of Kirtland Capital Partners. The sale enables Heil to concentrate all of its resources on continuing to build its core refuse business.
Based in Chattanooga, Tenn., Heil manufactures refuse collection and recycling vehicles at its manufacturing facility in Fort Payne, Ala. Parts Central, a Heil company, offers replacement parts for most refuse and recycling vehicle brands. Heil subsidiary Bayne Premium Lift Systems produces hydraulic refuse cart lifters in Greenville, S.C. Heil Europe manufactures refuse collection vehicles and replacement parts for the European market in Hillend, Scotland.
The Heil Truck Equipment Group manufactures and mounts dump bodies, snow/ice bodies and hoists at its plant in Tishomingo, Miss. Products include the Yardbird, Sidewinder and HPT dump bodies featuring Heil’s patented DuraClass design.
Heil South is a company-owned truck equipment distributorship in Austell, Ga., selling and servicing dump bodies, hoists, roll-offs, and knuckleboom loaders.
Michael Jobe, Heil president and CEO, states, “Heil has a long, proud history in the truck equipment business and our employees have done a great job of serving our customers. After careful study, the Heil management team determined that we could best serve all of our customers by selling our truck equipment division and associated sales branch to a company that is exclusively focused on that market and its customers. This move allows us to likewise concentrate solely on the refuse customers that are the core of our business.”
The sale includes Heil’s 204,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Tishomingo, the Heil South sales and service facility outside of Atlanta, and the use of certain intellectual property.
The Heil Truck Equipment Group and Heil South are now part of Truck Bodies & Equipment International, Inc. (TBEI). Kirtland formed TBEI in 2005 by combining three major truck equipment companies: Crysteel Manufacturing, Ox Bodies and Rugby Manufacturing, adding Hardee Equipment Co. in 2006. TBEI’s corporate headquarters is in Eden Prairie, Minn.
TBEI has indicated that it will keep the manufacturing facility in Tishomingo open with its 140-person workforce intact. Under the sales agreement, all existing orders will be filled, current vehicles will be supported and warranties now in effect will be honored. The truck equipment distributor network and sales force is expected to remain unchanged. Heil South will be renamed TBEI Atlanta. TBEI has expressed plans to retain the distributorship’s 16 employees and continue to offer truck equipment products and services. The refuse collection vehicle sales force and other aspects for supporting customers of the refuse business will be moved from the TBEI Atlanta facility, and Heil says it intends to further increase its focus and efforts to continue growing its customer base in the Georgia refuse markets.