St. George Logistics, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners since September 2016, has completed its first add-on acquisition with the buy of AZ Corporation.
According to Wind Point, AZ is North America’s second largest provider of container freight station (CFS) services. AZ also provides related services including warehousing, distribution and transportation. Similar to St. George Logistics, AZ’s customer base includes freight forwarders, neutral NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carriers), retailers, and consumer packaged goods companies. AZ operates out of nine port and inland facilities, with multiple locations at the ports of New York/New Jersey and Los Angeles/Long Beach as well as Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and Charleston. The company was founded in 1992 by Rich Lombardi and James Napolitano and is headquartered near Newark in Linden, NJ (www.azcfs.com).
Wind Point, along with logistics operating executives Chris Jamroz and Hessel Verhage, acquired St. George Logistics from Ironwood Capital in September 2016. At that time, Wind Point stated that this buy would be the first in the development of a larger logistics platform.
St. George is a provider of container freight station (CFS) services for ocean cargo imported into the United States. The company also provides logistics services, including distribution, warehousing, air container freight stations and transportation services. According to Ironwood Capital, St. George operates the largest network of independent CFS facilities in North America – its ocean CFS handles over 50,000 containers per year – with proximity to all major ports and metropolitan areas for ocean or air cargo. The St. George customer base includes freight forwarders, neutral NVOCCs (non-vessel operating common carriers), retailers, consumer packaged goods companies, and other businesses. The company is headquartered near Newark in South Kearny, NJ with additional facilities located in the nation’s largest ports and metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Savannah and Charleston (www.stgusa.com).
“The acquisition of AZ fits perfectly with our vision of building North America’s premier provider of outsourced import/export and value-added warehouse and distribution supply chain services,” said Mr. Jamroz. “This combination will allow us to provide our customers with a comprehensive menu of import and export solutions, best-in-class service, access to the industry’s fastest and most efficient intermodal transportation network, and robust information technology. This is a significant transaction not only for St. George and AZ but also for our customer base.”
“Our acquisition program will continue to focus on opportunities in ocean and air CFS, value-added warehousing and distribution, e-commerce fulfillment and related services in the large and growing import/export supply chain,” said Mr. Verhage.
“We are very excited to merge St. George, North America’s largest import-oriented CFS provider, with AZ, the continent’s largest export-oriented CFS business,” said Konrad Salaber, a Principal with Wind Point. “With 24 port and inland facilities totaling approximately four million square feet, a staff of more than 1,100 logistics professionals and a national network of more than 80 partner facilities, the combined business has unmatched scale and capabilities in outsourced CFS.”
Wind Point invests from $20 million to $70 million of equity in companies with revenues from $100 million to $500 million and EBITDAs of at least $8 million. Industries of interest include business services, consumer products, healthcare and industrial products. Wind Point Partners was founded in 1984 and is based in Chicago (www.wppartners.com).
Financing for the transaction was provided by NewStar Financial (www.newstarfin.com), Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, Webster Financial, and Oaktree Capital Management. Silvergrove (www.silvergroveadvisors.com) was the financial advisor to AZ.
© 2016 Private Equity Professional • 10-18-16
