WL Doggett LLC Acquires All John Deere Construction Equipment Dealershipsin Louisiana & East Texas for $103 Million

HOUSTON--Houston-based WL Doggett LLC (a division of the Leslie Doggett Equipment Services Group) “Doggett” has acquired the Louisiana and East Texas divisions of Nortrax South from John Deere & Company for $103 million, the companies reported.

Torch Partners LLC, Ed Jones, advised Doggett with credit facilities.

Nortrax South was formed by John Deere & Company approximately seven years ago to consolidate privately held John Deere Construction and Forestry Dealerships in Louisiana and East Texas and then to operate those dealerships as factory-owned branches. “Doggett approached John Deere to sell Nortrax South in June of 2006 with a plan to dramatically expand construction equipment rental services and general mechanical support services designed to materially assist oil field-related construction, general infrastructure improvements and the Katrina rebuilding efforts in southern Louisiana,” said Brian McLemore, CFO of Doggett.

Deere approved the disposition of Nortrax to Doggett early this year and the transaction closed yesterday. The acquisition provides Doggett with the exclusive right to sell John Deere Construction and Forestry Equipment and Hitachi Heavy Construction Equipment for the entire state of Louisiana and east Texas through 11 acquired dealerships located in New Orleans (Covington and Kenner), Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Shreveport, Lufkin, Longview and Tyler. The acquisition will boost the Doggett Group’s heavy equipment dealership count from 12 to 23.

“This transaction more than doubles the current size of The Leslie Doggett Equipment Services Group, growing annual revenue past $300 million and increasing the number of full-time employees to approximately 650,” the company reported. This acquisition complements the Group’s existing business as Toyota’s exclusive Industrial Equipment (forklift) dealer for the southern half of Texas (headquartered in Houston and San Antonio) and the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

“After more than a dozen acquisitions and internal annual growth rate averaging 11%, Doggett is now poised to extend its growth dramatically,” said Leslie Doggett, CEO, “both through acquisitions and through our operational philosophy which positions ourselves as the preferred supplier of equipment support services in each of our markets. The John Deere and Toyota brands combined with our team’s dedication to outstanding/measurable service performance results in a true win-win combination for our customers.”

WWW.DOGGETTMACHINERY.COM & WWW.TOYOTALIFT.COM & http://www.nortrax.com/servlet/nortrax/locator_south?currTab=dl&red=8