Columbia, SC – Prophet Equity announces that it has partnered with Jim and Adam Hills to make an equity investment to acquire a controlling interest in Hills Machinery Company (“HMC” or the “Company”). Headquartered in South Carolina, with seven locations that serve North and South Carolina, Hills is one of the largest CASE Construction dealerships in the United States, with a focus on heavy equipment offered by CASE Construction, Terex Trucks, a full line of recycling products, and other leading construction equipment manufacturers. HMC is one of the largest dealers in its regions with an emphasis on unmatched customer service.
Since 2007, when Adam and Jim Hills started the company, the business has experienced a dramatic growth which has seen the company expand fivefold during the last 12 years. “We have gone from being a smaller family-owned business to a much larger business and have been looking to find the right strategic partner,” said Jim Hills, President of HMC. “When we first met the Prophet Equity team, we recognized an immediate cultural fit and similar core operating principles as related to customers, employees and strategic growth. The partnership will also expand our financial resources, allowing us to continue to support our organic growth in our current branches plus help to facilitate strategic expansion opportunities. I could not be more pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Prophet Equity, and I am excited to get started.”
Charles Collie, Managing Director at Prophet Equity, commented, “We are incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with Jim, Adam and the HMC talented team, to support strategic growth initiatives. Through its reputation for customer service and strategic relationships with CASE Construction, Terex Trucks, Edge Innovate, Rubblemaster, Eagle Crushers, Mauldin and Ecoverse, there are tremendous opportunities for HMC. We expect the company to continue its excellent trajectory of organic growth through geographic expansion and through acquisitions to strengthen HMC’s market share in the Southern region.”
“Prophet Equity has deep experience investing in heavy equipment and equipment rental businesses,” commented Ross Gatlin, Prophet Equity’s CEO and Managing Partner. “We have a strong track record of identifying and investing in companies like HMC that have unique strategic strength and significant growth opportunities. We look forward to being a strategic, operational and financial partner to the entire HMC team.”
About Hills Machinery Company, LLC
Founded in 2007, Hills Machinery Company is a heavy equipment specialist serving a broad range of construction and recycling end-markets with an extremely flexible mix of parts, service, rentals and sales. Hills has 7 locations that serve North and South Carolina as well as parts of Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia with excellent OEM partnerships that include CASE Construction, Terex Trucks, Edge Innovate, Rubblemaster, Eagle Crushers, Mauldin, and Ecoverse. For more information, visit Hills Machinery’s website at www.hillsmachinery.com.
About Prophet Equity
Prophet Equity is a private equity firm that makes control investments in strategically viable, asset-intensive, underperforming companies. Over more than twenty years, our Principals have invested in and managed entities with over $6 billion in revenue. Prophet Equity’s control equity investments focus on lower middle market companies with strategically strong businesses and significant value creation potential, such as those found in partnerships, corporate carve-outs, divestitures and non-strategic businesses of larger companies. Representative business situations have included special situations, succession planning, recapitalizations, acquisitions, and buy and build strategies. Partnering with owners and management teams, Prophet Equity’s team of experts utilize a Holistic Value Creation™ (“HVC™”) strategy that is Fortune 500 tested and private equity proven to diagnose and drive dramatic value creation. Portfolio company management teams are highly motivated with clear, uncapped incentives based on realized business performance. For more background on Prophet Equity, our approach and our team, please visit www.prophetequity.com