IC Bus parent company Navistar sold its recreational vehicle business last week to Allied Specialty Vehicles (ASV), which owns Type-A school bus manufacturer Collins Bus Corporation.
The May 16 acquistion was structured as a purchase of all Navistar RV equity assets, which include the Monaco and Holiday Rambler brand of motorized RVs manufactured in Wakarusa, Ind., and the R-Vision and Holiday Rambler towable units in Harrisburg, Ore. ASV also entered into a multi-year leasing agreement for Navistar RV’s Elkhart, Ind., facility.
The sale is part of Navistar’s ongoing review of its North America core businesses, said Jack Allen, the company’s CEO.
“The sale of Navistar RV represents another important step in our Return-On-Invested-Capital review process,” he added in a statement. “These are three strong brands with world-class products and ASV will be able to create more value in the business than we could ourselves.”
The sale does not include Bison Coach, Navistar’s horse trailer manufacturing business but does includes the acquisition of several “iconic” Navistar brands such as Beaver and Safari, said ASV CEO Peter Guile.
“The ASV team is committed to providing our customers and dealers with exceptional product, service and support, and we are fully committed to re-establish the product leadership and extraordinary reputation for innovation, quality and service for which the Monaco family of brands has been known,” he added.
ASV retained Mike Snell as president of Monaco and Rambler and said it was looking forward “to his leadership during this new, exciting phase of growth.”
“We join the ASV family fully energized with worthy goals and high hopes as we jointly work to rebuild our iconic and proud RV industry brands,” added Snell, a 20-year veteran of the RV industry. “With the commitment and support of ASV we’ll focus on developing innovative, distinct and aspirational products in keeping with the long and rich tradition of our brands. I look forward to working with our team, our dealers and our customers to make this vision a reality.”
Financial terms were not disclosed at this writing.
