(Left to right) UniCarriers' Anthony Salgado, Capital's Jerry Ziglinski and Gary Hansen and James Radous from UniCarriers at the close of the sale in Hartland, Wisconsin.

UniCarriers Americas has acquired its second retail dealership in less than a year.

In a deal that closed on 3 March, the materials handling equipment manufacturer acquired Capital Equipment & Handling Inc., headquartered in Hartland, Wisconsin.

Last August, UniCarriers acquired its first retail dealership, New England Industry Truck Inc. of Woburn, Massachusetts.

UniCarriers Americas executive vice president James Radous tells Forkliftaction.com News that the acquisitions represent a strategy intended to both grow and diversify the company's portfolio.

However, Radous says, "There's not a game plan that says we want X number of businesses by a certain date."

Instead, he notes, the idea is to help the owners of successful dealerships in prime locations who may not have succession plans in place.

"That's the case here," Radous says. "They just didn't have anyone who wanted to take over a healthy business."

Richard Muenster, who is selling Capital Equipment & Handling to UniCarriers, founded the business in 1984, building it from a small office in Brookfield, Wisconsin to one with 85 employees and four branches that serves all of Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Capital became a Nissan Forklift dealer the year after it was founded and has gone on to be one of the most profitable dealerships for the brand, having been recognised as part of the Nissan Forklift Nine for the last five years in a row and seven years overall. Muenster has been a member of the original equipment manufacturer's dealer advisory group since 2007.

Muenster retires with the close of the sale and all four dealership branches will be managed by Gary Hansen, who has managed sales and operations for the company since 1985. He will report to Radous who, along with being executive vice president of sales for UniCarriers Americas, leads its relatively new retail operations channel.

Radous states getting into the retail dealership business with this diversification strategy helps UniCarriers to understand the industry from another point of view.

"People say that dealers think in minutes, hours and days while OEMs think in months, quarters and years," he says. "It's been interesting to put on our dealer's hat and see what we can do to support them."

Radous indicates UniCarriers Americas will continue to acquire retailer dealerships when and as the opportunity arises.

Besides Nissan, Capital also represents Clark Forklifts.

UniCarriers Americas, the fifth-largest materials handling equipment manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere, was formed in 2013 when Nissan Forklift North America merged with TCM America. It is a division of UniCarriers Corp., headquartered in Tokyo.