North Dakota firm to buy Evergreen Implement

OTHELLO — Othello-based Evergreen Implement is being bought by Fargo, North Dakota-based RDO Equipment, the largest independent John Deere retailer in the United States.

“I’ve been in business 52 years. I’m 83 now,” said Evergreen founder Roger Thieme. “My son is an attorney in Seattle and he doesn’t want to run (the company).”

Thieme said a certain amount of scale is necessary in the farm implement business, something RDO — which has over 70 retail and service sites in 11 states — clearly has.

“In order to take care of customers in the way they expect to be taken care of requires scale,” Thieme said. “I like to run my own ship, but I’ve not been able to find people to partner with.”

While the amount of the sale has not been disclosed, RDO Director of Communications Mark Dickerson said the deal should close sometime in early February.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Dickerson said. “We’re very conscious that Evergreen is a strong brand, and we’re respectful of everything they’ve done.”

Dickerson said eventually all five of Evergreen’s stores would eventually bear the RDO brand, though he was unsure how quickly that would happen. Evergreen has stores in Moses Lake, Othello, Coulee City, Pasco and Ritzville.

Dickerson also said the two companies were very similar — both founded in the mid-1960s by men who are still very much involved in day-to-day operations.

“Evergreen is a good company with a wonderful reputation; it’s very well run,” he said. “There are a lot of similarities between the two, a lot of synergy.”

Dickerson said RDO will keep all of Evergreen’s employees, and that many of the other details of the acquisition would all be worked out over the course of the next month.

“You do well if you have good staff, and I don’t know of anyone who lets go of good staff,” he said.

Thieme said he and RDO founder Ron Offutt — whom he called “Ronnie” — have been discussing an acquisition for some time.

“Ronnie and I have talking about this for the last four years,” he said. “A couple of things happened that accelerated it by a few years, and maybe right now is the right time to do it.”

Thieme said he still had enough work to do in Othello, such as the refurbishing of the Adams County Rescue Center, to keep him busy for several years.

“They told me as long as I want my office, I’ve got my office,” he said.