CI Capital Partners has acquired Simplified Logistics, a provider of less-than-truckload third-party logistics. The management team of Simplified will retain a significant equity ownership in the company.
Simplified’s services include logistics consulting, transportation management, customer reporting, and freight audit and payment services. The company was founded in 2003 and is based near Cleveland in Westlake, OH (www.simplifiedlogistics.com).
CI Capital is acquiring Simplified in partnership with logistics executive Mark Yeager. Mr. Yeager will serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Simplified and will make an equity investment in the company alongside CI Capital. He will also become a member of the board of Simplified along with the company’s co-founders Dave Klugman, Bob Maisch and Sam Avampato. Also joining the board of the company are Jack Holmes, former President of UPS Freight and James Down, former Head of Mercer Management Consulting.
CI Capital and Mr. Yeager began working together in August 2016 to pursue a platform company in the fragmented transportation and logistics sector. Most recently, Mr. Yeager was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Hub Group, a $3.5 billion publicly-traded transportation company offering intermodal, brokerage and logistics services. Mr. Yeager spent 23 years at the company, serving in various roles including general counsel, division president, and president of field operations. In October 2015, Mr. Yeager resigned from Hub Group’s board of directors, two months after stepping down from his post as President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Yeager is the son of Hub Group founder Phillip Yeager, and his brother, David Yeager, is the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hub Group.
“The Simplified management team has built a strong position in the LTL freight sector. We see an attractive opportunity to build Simplified into a large scale, full-service 3PL provider both organically and through add-on acquisitions,” said Mr. Yeager.
“We believe there is an opportunity for Simplified to expand its focus beyond LTL transportation management services,” said Sam Avampato, President of Simplified Logistics. “CI Capital and Mark Yeager’s deep experience in logistics will help us pursue and achieve this goal.”
CI Capital has previously invested in the 3PL space. In December 2009 it acquired Transplace, a provider of non-asset based 3PL services, which it sold in June 2013 to Greenbriar Equity Group. “We have remained interested in the logistics sector and have been searching for the right opportunity to acquire a third-party logistics platform company,” said Joost Thesseling, Managing Director at CI Capital. “We are very impressed with the Simplified management team and the business that they have built. We are grateful for the opportunity to form this partnership and look forward to working with the management team and Mark Yeager.”
CI Capital Partners invests from $25 million to $100 million in middle market companies in the following sectors: business services, consumer services, distribution, government services and defense, and light manufacturing. Since its founding in 1993, CI Capital and its portfolio companies have made more than 190 acquisitions representing over $8 billion in enterprise value. The firm is based in New York (www.cicapllc.com).
© 2017 Private Equity Professional | March 10, 2017
