NES Rentals

Summary

Chief Restructuring Officer

Chicago, IL

NES Equipment Rental (NES) was a leading provider of rental equipment and services for construction, industrial, and maintenance projects. The company offered a wide range of equipment, including aerial lifts, cranes, earthmoving machinery, and general construction tools, along with maintenance, repair, and logistics support to help customers optimize their projects.

Carl Marks Advisors (CMA) served as Chief Restructuring Officer and Chief Operational Officer to NES, successfully guiding the company through Chapter 11 bankruptcy and addressing conflicting priorities between debt reduction and fleet reinvestment. CMA executed a comprehensive restructuring plan, including negotiating a balance sheet restructuring that converted subordinated notes to equity, implementing fleet performance controls, stabilizing operations through cost-saving measures, and securing $90 million in exit financing for fleet revitalization.

Key Challenges

Fleet Synchronization

Over Leveraged Balance Sheet

Deteriorating Financial Performance

Engagement Highlights

Conflicting priorities regarding the disposition of NES were fundamental: the bank group wanted to rapidly reduce debt load, whereas the fleet required meaningful reinvestment to sustain the business.
Carl Marks executed a restructuring plan which included:
- Negotiating a balance sheet restructuring with the 36-member bank group and the bond holders; most critically, senior subordinated notes were converted to equity.
- Instituted fleet performance controls and matrices to fully leverage assets – developed comprehensive, enterprise-wide fleet plan to align assets with demand, manage mix in a market driven fashion to maximize fleet utilization and reduced fleet age to minimize maintenance costs and maximize “up-time”.
- Stabilized the organization – Refocus sales at the local level to increase ROI, relocate headquarters to less expensive facility, consolidate back-office operations.
- Negotiated exit financing with the existing bank group – exit facility to provide for a $90 million fleet revitalization program critical to the strategy.

NES Rentals

Summary

Chief Restructuring Officer

Key Challenges

Engagement Highlights

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