Rush Enterprises, Inc. announced today it has signed a definitive asset purchase agreement to sell its John Deere construction equipment business, including its Rush Equipment Centers in Houston and Beaumont, TX, to Doggett Heavy Machinery Services, LLC. The purchase price for the Rush Equipment Centers is estimated to be approximately $37 million for assets and goodwill, stated Rush. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
“With a tremendous group of employees to whom I am extremely grateful, we successfullyoperated our John Deere construction equipment dealer in Houston for over 12 years,” said W. M. “Rusty” Rush, president & CEO of Rush Enterprises, Inc. “In the process, Ibelieve that we proved that we can apply our organizational knowledge of serving commercialcustomers to distribute products other than commercial vehicles. We will continue to evaluateopportunities to re-enter the construction equipment dealership business in areas of the country outside of Houston and adjacent areas of southeast Texas, where we will be precluded from doing so for several years,” he added.
Rush Enterprises, Inc. noted it owns and operates the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in the U.S., representing truck and bus manufacturers including Peterbilt, International, Hino, Isuzu, Ford, UD, Blue Bird, IC, Diamond and Elkhart.