Charlotte’s Spartan Motors Acquires Royal Truck Body in California

Spartan Motors Inc. in Charlotte, southwest of Lansing, has acquired Royal Truck Body, a California-based designer, manufacturer, and installer of service truck bodies and accessories. It joins Spartan’s specialty chassis and vehicles business unit and will retain its name. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Royal Truck Body
Spartan Motors has acquired Royal Truck Body in California. // Photo courtesy of Royal Truck Body

Spartan Motors Inc. in Charlotte, southwest of Lansing, has acquired Royal Truck Body, a California-based designer, manufacturer, and installer of service truck bodies and accessories. It joins Spartan’s specialty chassis and vehicles business unit and will retain its name. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Our acquisition of Royal Truck Body marks the continued execution of our strategic plan and delivers on the promise of nationwide expansion to the benefit of our customers, suppliers, team members, and our shareholders,” says Daryl Adams, president and CEO of Spartan Motors.

The purchase expands Spartan Motors’ manufacturing operations into California and other West Coast markets. It also adds six operating facilities across California, Arizona, and Texas. Spartan will use Royal’s facilities to build and distribute commercial trucks to West Coast customers.

Spartan expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings on an annualized basis in 2020.

“As we welcome Royal to the Spartan family and work to grow our combined business, we see many opportunities to further our value proposition of additional expansion into the trades, fleet, and last-mile delivery categories nationwide,” Adams says. “Our long-term strategy is to broaden our geographic footprint with increased capabilities for each regional location to offer a comprehensive suite of products and services.”

Royal manufactures and assembles truck body options for trades, service utility truck bodies, stake body trucks, service bans, contractor trucks, and dump trucks. It builds on the momentum of Spartan’s recent General Truck Body acquisition.

“I’m thrilled that Spartan represents such a close fit with our company values and culture, including hard work, accountability, and customer satisfaction,” says Dudley DeZonia, former president of Royal. “Spartan has a compelling vision and success story, and I am confident the future will be incredibly bright for Spartan and the Royal Truck Body brand.”

Donnelly Penman and Partners served as merger and acquisition and transaction adviser to Spartan, and Varnum LLP served as outside legal counsel.

Spartan offers solutions for the commercial and retail vehicle industries including last-mile delivery, specialty vehicles, commercial vehicle assembly, and vocation-specific upfit segments, as well as for the emergency response and recreational vehicle markets. It employs about 2,500 associates and reported sales of $816 million in 2018.