Memphis investors to rent fleet through EquipmentShare

Two US private investment firms have created a construction equipment rental and sales business, Crockett Partners, which will place its fleet on EquipmentShare’s platform to rent to end customers.

Both investors are based in Memphis. Family-owned Pittco Management is owned by the family of Pitt Hyde, founder of AutoZone, and his wife Barbara, and 1819 Partners is a private equity business in the same city. The two have created Crockett Partners Fund to “own, rent, and resell construction and industrial equipment.”

The companies have not provided details of the scale of the investment or the equipment types.

A JLG aerial platform in EquipmentShare’s rental fleet.

“The construction and industrial equipment rental market offers attractive return potential with low correlation to equity markets,” said Henry Guy, Pittco’s Chief Investment Officer.

“We are very pleased to enter this market through an agreement with EquipmentShare, a leading integrated equipment service company and one of the largest purchasers of heavy equipment in the United States. We’re also excited to establish this partnership with 1819 Partners, an investment firm we hold in very high regard.”

Drew Hursey, Managing Director at 1819 Partners, said Pittco was the right partner to grow the equipment strategy over the coming years; “Knowing the strength of EquipmentShare’s operations and culture, we are confident that this will be a fruitful and lasting collaboration.”

The use of external funders to populate its equipment fleet is another example of innovation from EquipmentShare, which aims to accelerate the digitalisation of the rental and construction sector. The company, as well as renting its own equipment, also manages customer fleets through its T3 technology platform.