After a quiet period, two deals in party rental made headlines Thursday: Milpitas, Calif.-based Stuart Rental Co. announced that it has merged with tent specialist Top Productions, based in Richmond, Calif. Also, furniture rental giant CORT, based in Fairfax, Va., announced it has acquired ABC Special Event Rentals, located just outside Seattle.

Part of the Special Events "30 Top Event Rental Companies" list, Stuart heretofore operated three outlets, pulling in an annual rental volume estimated at just under $6 million.

The newly combined company will continue to operate as the Stuart Rental Co., according to management.

“We have long recognized that designers and event producers have wanted alternatives to the current marketplace,” Stuart CEO Michael Berman said in a statement. “Having worked with Top Productions over the past several years, company president Peter Daly and I knew that our combined offerings would provide the marketplace with such a solution. We really couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities.”

Top president Peter Daly, who will take the post of vice president, business development, in the new company, added, “This new company operating under one roof provides our customers with unprecedented resources. With Stuart’s enormous inventory of party rental and decor options, and Top Productions’ unrivaled inventory of clearspan structure and tenting in Northern California, we can now service every event along the West Coast.”

The new entity has more than 100,000 feet of inventory throughout the San Francisco Bay Area; together the two teams have won a total of five Special Events Gala Awards.

CORT EXPANDS CAPABILITIES

In the Pacific Northwest, the CORT/ABC deal "provides an expanded range of event and party rental products and services for customers in the Seattle metropolitan area,” Mike Davis, vice president of CORT Trade Show & Event Furnishings, said in a statement. “This acquisition allows us to provide a single source solution throughout the state of Washington while providing the quality, service and trust customers have come to expect from both companies. I am also very pleased that Phil and Alexia Heidt, the owners of ABC, will continue to remain at the helm along with their outstanding team of service professionals.”

For more on the significance of these developments, see the Jan. 12 edition of Special Events' "Eventline" e-newsletter.

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