Hanover Partners announces the acquisition of Westside Equipment Company. Headquartered in Madera, California with multiple branch offices across California and company-owned distribution in Chile, the Company designs and manufactures tomato harvesting and pistachio harvesting equipment, as well as related aftermarket parts. Founded in 1986, and located in California’s Central Valley, home of 95% of the U.S.’s domestic processed tomato production, Westside is the market leader in tomato harvesters for processed tomato applications, with multiple model offerings branded under the Commander, Johnson, and STAR names. The Company serves a diverse customer base including the world’s major tomato and pistachio processors and farms located near the Company’s headquarters in California, as well as addressing customers in other parts of the U.S., and across the globe. The Company’s website is www.westsideequipment.com.
Greyrock Capital Group co-invested alongside Hanover Partners and management in the acquisition of Westside. The Westside investment was Hanover’s third new platform investment in the last 15 months, and its second transaction of 2019, including the July exit of Freedom Communication Technologies.
Mr. Dan Rodrick, Co-Founder and CEO of Westside, re-invested alongside Hanover and will continue to lead the Company. Commenting on the closing, Mr. Rodrick stated, “My team and I are excited to partner with Hanover to build upon Westside’s dominant market share in tomato harvesters and expand into other related agricultural machinery equipment applications. We were attracted to Hanover’s decades of experience backing the growth of specialty equipment manufacturers. Their support will enable to us to better serve our existing customers, as well as enhance our new product development efforts both internally and via acquisition.”
Commenting at the transaction’s closing, Aaron Aiken, Partner with Hanover Partners stated, “We were especially impressed with Westside’s long-term and leading brand name, robust organization, product development core-competencies, commanding market share, and exceptionally high recurring revenues for an equipment manufacturer. In addition, we attracted to the overall stability of the processed tomato market, as well as the significant growth of the pistachio market. Hanover is grateful to co-founders John Perez and Dan Rodrick for selecting Hanover to steward the Company’s future. We are excited to partner with Dan as CEO, and the entire Westside team, to enhance the Company’s current operations, continue Westside’s excellent customer service in the Central Valley, and enter adjacent product categories with add-on acquisitions. The Westside recapitalization is highly-consistent with Hanover’s 25-year strategy of investing in niche-market leading equipment manufacturers with significant engineering value-add. In addition, this investment continues our track-record of facilitating smooth ownership and leadership transitions for family-owned and owner-operated companies.”
John Perez, Westside’s co-founder, who will remain a board member of Westside and re-invested alongside Hanover, stated, “The transaction with Hanover Partners culminates a long and successful chapter for Westside, and begins another. I’m pleased to be an ongoing shareholder and board member, and I am confident Westside will continue to thrive in serving the California, as well as international farming communities. With Hanover’s partnership, Westside is well-positioned to invest in internal new product development and acquisitive growth opportunities.”
About Hanover Partners
Founded in 1994, Hanover Partners, Inc. is a private equity firm with offices in Portland, OR and San Francisco, CA. Hanover acquires majority positions in lower middle-market specialty manufacturers, developing proprietary, highly engineered products, industrial equipment, niche branded consumer products, and business-facing software products. Within these sectors, the firm focuses on companies with $2 million to $8 million of operating income. With the addition of Westside, Hanover’s current portfolio of companies consists of six companies located across the United States.
