Two of the country's largest independent equipment-rental companies, Millville, N.J.,-based Trico Lift and Bristol, Penn.,-based Modern Equipment, formed a strategic alliance whereby Trico will assist Modern with marketing industrial forklifts, power systems and material handling products and services and Modern will assist Trico with marketing aerial-lift products and services. Modern will sell a portion of its aerial-lift assets to Trico, increasing Trico's fleet size to 4,000 units, and Trico will acquire Modern's Baltimore branch. Trico and Modern will share facilities in King of Prussia and Allentown, Penn.

The arrangement with Modern enables both companies to remain focused on their core competencies and creates an even stronger opportunity for both organizations to grow in our common target markets, said Ken Pustizzi, president of Trico Lift.