Hudson Hill Capital has formed Fusion Transport to acquire majority equity interests in Global Transport Logistics (GTLi) and Am Trans Expedite.
The founders and senior executives of both companies have retained significant equity in the combined company and will continue in key leadership roles. Fusion Transport will be led by Frank Matarazzo, GTLi’s CEO. Am Trans Co-Founder Mike Wallace has been named Fusion’s president of logistics, while Bob Trusz, Am Trans’ other co-founder, was named president of asset services. The two companies will operate as subsidiaries of Fusion Transport.
Global Transport Logistics (GTLI) is an air, ground, and ocean freight forwarding company, specializing in the consolidation and transport of less-than-truckload and truckload freight. The company provides retail vendor consolidation services with dedicated warehouses in New Jersey, Texas and California. Through this network, GTLi consolidates less than truckload shipments from multiple vendors for weekly truckload delivery to major retailers including Walmart, Target, Walgreens, and Dollar General. GTLi was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Glen Rock, NJ (www.gtli.net).
Am Trans Expedite is an asset-based provider of third-party logistics (3PL) services with a fleet of more than 300 pieces of equipment. The company’s services include truckload, less-than-truckload, cross-docking, warehousing, fulfillment, distribution, refrigerated full truckload throughout the Domestic US, and refrigerated less-than-truckload. Am Trans was founded in 2002 and is headquartered near Chicago in Addison, IL (www.goamtrans.com).
“With Fusion, we have taken an important step toward our shared vision of creating a unique national network, one that is built to move retail, grocery and volume LTL freight better, on time, and at a lower cost,” said Mr. Matarazzo. “At GTLi we have over 20 years of history moving LTL through an expanding network. When we first met Am Trans, we immediately saw the opportunity for a transformative combination.”
With the transaction closed, Fusion Transport now ships weekly to every part of the country from hubs in northern New Jersey, northern Texas, southern California, northern California and the greater Chicago area. The company has over 400 combined pieces of equipment, a dedicated internal fleet for local pickup and delivery, and more than 20,000 third-party carriers.
“We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to partner with the Matarazzo family from GTLi and the founders of Am Trans,” said Eric Rosen, managing partner at Hudson Hill Capital. “We have been targeting an investment in transportation and logistics for some time. Fusion Transport is both the culmination of that initial effort and the beginning of an exciting next phase. In partnership with Frank Matarazzo, Mike Wallace and Bob Trusz, we see an opportunity to build Fusion Transport into a leading national value-added logistics provider.”
Hudson Hill Capital invests in middle market businesses with a preference for family and entrepreneur-owned businesses with no prior institutional capital funding. The firm invests across a range of industries but has specific interest in financial services, logistics, business services, software, and industrials. Hudson Hill Capital was founded by Eric Rosen in 2016. Prior to forming the firm, from 2005 to 2015, Mr. Rosen was a partner at New York-based MSD Capital which manages the capital of Michael S. Dell and his family. Earlier in his career, from 1989 to 2005, he was a managing director and partner at Onex Corporation. Hudson Hill Capital is headquartered in New York (www.hudsonhillcapital.com).
Capstone Headwaters was the financial advisor to GTLi and Am Trans. Ally Financial provided acquisition financing to support the transaction.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | June 21, 2019
St. George Logistics, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, has acquired Freight Force. St. George Logistics was acquired by Wind Point in July 2016 from LongueVue Capital and Ironwood Capital.
“We are very excited to continue our support of STG’s robust acquisition program,” said Konrad Salaber, a Managing Director at Wind Point Partners. “Consistent with our original investment thesis, the STG team is building a truly unique enterprise that stands as a leader in the global supply chain. Freight Force is the sixth add-on we have acquired since forming the platform in July 2016 and we expect that acquisitions will continue to complement STG’s strong organic growth as a driver of future value creation.”
Wind Point invests from $30 million to $150 million in companies with revenues from $100 million to $500 million and EBITDAs of at least $10 million. Industries of interest include business services, consumer products and industrial products. Wind Point was founded in 1984 and is based in Chicago. In June 2017, Wind Point held a final closing of its eighth fund, Wind Point Partners VIII LP, with $985 million of capital commitments. The fund exceeded its initial hard cap of $750 million and marks the largest fund closing in Wind Point’s history (
The Carlyle Group has acquired United Road Services, a vehicle transportation company, from Charlesbank Capital Partners which acquired the company in December 2012 from The Gores Group.
acquisition nearly doubled United Road’s capacity and made the company the second-largest car-hauler in North America. “We are so grateful to Charlesbank and our board of directors for their support over the past five years,” said Ms. McCann. “Our strategic growth platform was really turbocharged in late 2012 when we were acquired by Charlesbank. They provided the capital, support and encouragement to expand our reach and capabilities – both organically and through the Waggoners’ transaction, which gave us a deeper presence in the southeast and southwest US. Today our team is on track to move north of 3.5 million vehicles in 2017 up from 1.5 million in 2012.”
Charlesbank Capital Partners invests in management-led buyouts and growth capital financings in companies with enterprise values of $150 million to $1.5 billion. The firm has offices in Boston and New York (
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) invests in buyouts, growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The firm employs approximately 1,550 people in 31 offices across six continents and is based in Washington, DC (
