The deal is structured as a merger, and will see Southway’s founder Jerry Reynold’s join TNT as executive vice president for the south east region. He will remain as president of Southway. Southway Crane & Rigging Companies is headquartered in Georgia. The deal will expand TNT’s geographic operations from primarily Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.
Southway is a full-service mobile crane provider with eight branches serving the Southeast US including Georgia, South Carolina, Northern Florida and Tennessee. With the addition of Southway, TNT’s enterprise now spans from West Texas to the Atlantic seaboard.
TNT said that it now owns approximately 380 cranes and provides full service capabilities utilising its portfolio of truck mounted, all-terrain, rough terrain, crawlers, mobile gantries and rigging solutions with lifting capacities ranging from 3t up to 1,330t.
"We are extremely excited to bring together two of the best crane companies in the business," said Michael Appling Jr., president and CEO of TNT. "This combination puts us in a stronger and more competitive position from numerous perspectives. We will achieve greater industry and geographic diversification which greatly mitigates our overall business and concentration risk. Our combined fleets and capabilities, strong customer relationships and deep operational experience provide an excellent runway for strategic growth through maximising utilisation, penetrating new contiguous markets and taking advantage of pull through customer relationships in new geographies."
Appling Jr. added: "Both TNT and Southway work hard to be industry leaders in safety and operational excellence and this combination can only strengthen our reputation and market position. We welcome the Southway employees into the TNT family and we enthusiastically look forward to building and growing a great company together."
In mid-2012 TNT announced that it acquired the crane operations of Turner Bros, a company with 60 cranes and branches in Texas. The company said the acquisition showed its continued commitment to be a leader in the industry.
