Buyout at Essex Crane Rental

Essex Crane Rental Corp in the US will be bought by Hyde Park Acquisition Corp in a US$210 million deal.

The agreement to acquire the Illinois-based company, which operates 400 crawler cranes, from its owner Kirtland Capital Partners, will include additional transaction expenses and an adjustment for purchases and sales prior to closing.

Essex Crane Rental's primary markets include bridge and road construction, power generation, water treatment, refineries, alternative energy and other infrastructure projects.

The transaction will be financed through a combination of up to $100 million in proceeds from Hyde Park, a $5 million equity investment by the Essex management team and a $5 million equity investment by Kirtland Capital Partners.

It will also include a $1 million equity investment by Macquarie Capital and a $117 million drawdown of a fully committed asset-backed credit facility from a consortium of institutional lending sources. When the deal closes in the second half of 2008, Hyde Park will change its name to Essex Crane Rental Corp. and will seek a Nasdaq listing.

New York-based Hyde Park Acquisition was incorporated in Delaware in August 2006 as a blank cheque company with the objective of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition or other similar business combination with an operating business. Hyde Park's initial public offering was declared in March 2007.