Japanese steelmaker Sumitomo’s parent corporation announced today that it has acquired the remaining 20 percent interest in Sunstate Equipment Co., LLC through its subsidiary SMS International Corporation, making Sunstate a wholly owned company of Sumitomo Corporation Group.
Sunstate is the 7th largest equipment rental company in the United States and the 24th largest in the world, with over 60 branches in 9 states, and employing nearly 1,600 individuals.
In a statement, the company said “The United States is currently experiencing rapidly deteriorating infrastructure systems, for which repairs are estimated to exceed billions of dollars over the next 10 years. This in turn provides anticipated growth for the construction equipment rental industry, which already exceeds 30 billion dollars and is expected to continue to grow due to the demand for infrastructure projects.”
Sumitomo became engaged with Sunstate in 2009 with its first investment in their Convertible Preferred Interests. As a minority shareholder, Sumitomo was focused on strengthening a partnership with Sunstate's management while gaining an understanding of the industry. This led to Sumitomo acquiring the controlling interest of Sunstate in 2012 by increasing its ownership of Common Membership Interest to 80 percent. Following the acquisition, Sunstate expanded its business and tripled sales from 2009.
Sumitomo said it looks forward to contributing to the further expansion of Sunstate and the US economy by involvement in infrastructure construction projects and by creating employment within this field.