Ridgemont Equity Partners has made a growth equity investment in Nolan Transportation Group, a freight brokerage service provider. The company’s management team will remain the majority shareholders.
Nolan Transportation Group (NTG) provides expedited, truckload, less-than-truckload, rail, air cargo/air freight forwarding, and warehousing services through a network of over 40,000 independent transportation companies. NTG’s customer base includes food processors, manufacturing companies, paper, plastic, commodities, primary metals, recycling, lumber, produce, and importers and exporters. The company was founded in 2005 by Kevin Nolan, President and CEO, as a truckload brokerage operating with a box of cash and two employees. Today, NTG is recognized as one of the fastest-growing freight brokerages in the United States – the company was #461 in Inc. Magazine’s 2016 list of America’s 500 fastest-growing private companies – with 11 offices nationwide, over 500 employees, and over 5,000 customers. NTG is headquartered north of Atlanta in Roswell, GA (www.ntgfreight.com).
“This capital raise marks an important milestone for NTG as we continue on our path to become one of the largest providers of freight brokerage services in North America,” said Mr. Nolan. “We welcome not only Ridgemont’s strong logistics expertise but most importantly their cultural fit with NTG, which is integral to the success of our business.”
“We decided to seek a financial partner to bolster our current growth strategy; to continue to build out our brokerage operations team; and to invest in technology that will increase our value and integration with our customers and carriers,” said Harold Baron, Senior Vice President, NTG.
“We have formed a strong relationship with Kevin Nolan and the NTG team over the past several years, and we’re very excited to be announcing our new partnership,” said Tim Dillon, Vice President at Ridgemont. “NTG is among the fastest growing businesses in the $50 billion truckload brokerage market and we recognize what an outstanding operation Kevin and his team have built. Run-rate revenue is over $300 million and has more than doubled in size over the last two years.”
“Ridgemont continues to be very active in the third party logistics sector, now closing our third platform investment in the last two years in addition to four add-on acquisitions,” said Rob Edwards, Partner at Ridgemont. “I expect that Ridgemont will continue to find attractive opportunities in this sector over time.”
Ridgemont Equity Partners focuses on middle market buyout and growth equity investments of $25 million to $100 million. The firm invests in the following sectors: basic industries and services; energy; healthcare; and telecommunications, media and technology. The firm is headquartered in Charlotte with an additional office in Dallas (www.ridgemontep.com).
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 9-7-16
