Forward Air brings Land Air Express into the fold to boost LTL operations

Taking another step to execute what it calls its inorganic growth strategy, Greenville, Tenn.-based asset-light freight and logistics services provider Forward Air said yesterday it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Bowling Green, Kentucky-based Land Air Express, a privately-held expedited less-than-truckload (LTL) services provider.

Forward Air said that the purchase price is $56.5 million, and it is expected to be funded from both cash on hand and its credit facility, with the acquisition expected to close later this month.

Established in 1983, Land Air’s service offerings include: guaranteed standard, exclusive, same day, hot shot, and pickup and delivery. The company has around 270 employees and more than 200 drivers—including company and leased capacity providers, with operations in more than 25 U.S.-based terminals.

“Our core LTL business is the key growth area for Forward and the purchase of Land Air Express is an important addition to our LTL growth opportunities,” said Tom Schmitt, Chairman, President and CEO of Forward, in a statement. “This acquisition will accelerate the expansion of our national terminal footprint, particularly in the middle part of the United States, and we believe it will strategically position us to better meet the current and future needs of customers. Land Air Express is a high-performing team that shares our precision execution DNA and a strong commitment to collaboration with customers. We believe this acquisition will increase our capacity to provide customers with the industry leading on-time and damage-free service they demand. We are thrilled to welcome Land Air Express into the Forward family.”

Forward explained that bringing Land Air Express into the fold is an important addition to the growth opportunities for the company’s core LTL business, adding that the Land Air Express network accelerates the expansion of its national footprint, especially in the middle part of the U.S.

Other key benefits of the acquisition cited by LandAir include:

• Adding four new locations that will immediately expand the Forward presence to better serve current and future customers;
• Expected revenue synergies from connecting locations and expanding customer base;
• Expected annual revenue contribution of approximately $74.0 million to $94.0 million net of deal related churn;
• Planned productivity to be gained by sharing systems, processes, and people with an estimated integration period of about one year; and
• Land Air Express shares the Forward precision execution DNA and a strong commitment to collaboration with customers

In aSeptember interview withLM, Forward’s Schmitt said that the company focusing on providing more high-value freight services with the customers that have known it the best and the longest.

“Domestic forwarders, international forwarders, those are companies we have known and worked with for a long time,” he said. “And the beautiful thing is that we have found ways over the last year to actually go for more high-value freight together, and that will continue to be the case. The second thing is that for smaller- and medium-sized companies, we started selling LTL directly to them. This may, or may not be a well-known fact, but for the 40 years of our existence we basically sold our high value freight to people who sell it to people who make and ship something. We sold to intermediaries exclusively. We're still doing that. As I just said, we are doing it actually more. And we also doing for small medium-sized businesses that do not use forwarders.”