National Equipment Services Inc., a provider of specialty and general equipment to industrial and construction end users, recently announced that it has completed the sale of its trench shoring business to United Rentals Inc., the largest equipment rental company in North America. The sale price was approximately $110 million.

NES Trench Shoring operated 34 branches in 12 states located throughout the United States, with customers in the construction, utility and infrastructure-development markets. NES Trench Shoring was built through three acquisitions, internal growth and new branch start-ups.

"The sale represents a significant event for NES," said President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Rodgers. "Over the past two years, we have focused on reducing debt, and we intend to use the proceeds from this sale for that purpose. It also is important to note that we expect to meet our goal of lowering debt by an additional $75 million from internally generated cash flow this year."