Harkness Capital Partners has agreed to sell Kane Logistics, a national provider of third-party logistic services, to ID Logistics at an enterprise value of $240 million. Harkness first invested in Kane Logistics in March 2019.
Kane Logistics provides third-party logistics services, including warehousing and transportation management, contract packaging and cross-docking to large and mid-market companies. The company’s customers include numerous consumer product companies and retailers, including Gallo, Sam’s Club, AGFA, Dow, and Hain Celestial. Kane had 2021 revenues of $235 million.
Kane was founded by Edward Kane in 1930 as Kane Freight Lines and today is headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania with a truckload fleet of 150 power units and 500 trailers, and 6 million square feet of warehousing space across 26 distribution center locations.
Kane is led by Chairman Tony Tegnelia, who is also a founding partner of Harkness Capital. The Kane management team has been asked to stay in place after the transaction closes, and Stan Schrader, Kane’s chief commercial officer, will become the CEO of ID Logistics, US.
“I believe very strongly that the cultural fit between the two organizations is close to perfect,” said Mr. Tegnelia. “ID Logistics is the ideal next partner to move the company forward, to serve our customers, and to help maintain our growth trajectory. Their cultural values are a mirror of our values, and they also have a very strongly committed management team.”
“The combination of ID Logistics and Kane Logistics creates a strong opportunity for continued future growth,” said Ted Dardani, a founding partner at Harkness. “The Kane team has done a great job in further building the business over the past few years. We benefited from and appreciated the leadership and long heritage of the Kane family in creating a company dedicated to serving its customers. The next chapter for ID and Kane should be equally exciting.”
ID Logistics (Euronext: IDL) is headquartered near Marseille in Orgon, France and its services include warehousing and distribution, temperature-controlled logistics, transportation, and e-commerce. ID Logistics, with 25,000 employees and more than $2.2 billion in annual revenue, operates 75 million square feet of warehousing space across 350 sites in 17 countries.
“The acquisition of Kane Logistics represents one of the most important external growth operations in the history of our company,” said Eric Hémar, the chairman and CEO of ID Logistics. “After starting in 2001 with a few large retail customers that we were able to quickly support internationally, the company shifted to e-commerce and retail preparation in 2013 with the acquisition of CEPL. It then strengthened its presence in Europe with the recent acquisition of GVT in Benelux. Today, with the acquisition of Kane Logistics, we are opening new prospects in North America, where we are enhancing our know-how, in particular with consumer package goods customers, and welcoming experienced and dynamic managers to our team.”
Harkness Capital invests in service-oriented and niche-manufacturing companies that have EBITDA of $5 million to $25 million, with a specific interest in the third-party logistics sector. Harkness was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in New York City.
The buy of Kane by ID Logistics is expected to close by the end of April 2022.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | February 17, 2022
