Lineage Logistics to acquire European freight forwarder UTI

Terms of the deal not disclosed
UTI specializes in shipping refrigerated and containerized foods
Lineage entered U.S. rail freight market earlier this year

MICHIGAN : Novi-based Lineage Logistics announced this week a deal to acquire Dutch freight company UTI Forwarding from its private equity owner Nordian Capital Partners.

The deal marks the world’s largest temperature controlled warehousing firm’s entrance into the European freight industry, allowing Lineage to distribute refrigerated foods from its warehouses throughout Europe.

UTI specializes in the exporting and importing of temperature controlled and containerized food products to ports across Europe.

Together we will offer a one stop solution to our shared customers that creates new efficiencies between import- and export-based container movements and our warehouses that will help us reduce waste in the supply chain,” Mike McClendon, president of international operations and executive vice president of network optimization at Lineage, said in a press release. “UTI has an exceptional management team and we are excited to partner with them to expand this offering to new customers while investing in technology to further drive growth and savings.”

ING Financial Services LLC acted as financial adviser to UTI and Nordian. Rabobank acted as Lineage’s financial adviser and NautaDutilh served as its legal counsel.

Earlier this year, Lineage acquired Maryland-based Cryo-Trans, an owner of refrigerated and insulated railcars. The transaction valued Cryo-Trans at more than $500 million, Bloomberg reported.

Lineage, a real estate investment trust, operates more than 330 temperature-controlled warehouses, spanning almost 2 billion cubic feet of storage capacity across 15 countries. It provides other services including last-mile delivery, freight consolidation and port logistics.

About one-third of all refrigerated foods consumed in the U.S. pass through at least one of Lineage’s warehouses. And COVID-19 produced greater opportunity as consumers shifted dining habits away from restaurants, buying almost all of their food from grocery stores. The bulk of Lineage’s business is distribution to markets. So while restaurant distributors like U.S. Foods suffered, Lineage thrived.

During 2020, Lineage made 39 acquisitions to the tune of $3.6 billion — or a pace of one acquisition every nine days through the year. The acquisitions added 130 warehouses in 10 countries to the company’s portfolio and 5,000 new employees.

In March, Lineage raised $1.9 billion from investors. The equity comes from new and existing investors, including BentallGreenOak, D1 Capital Partners, Oxford Properties, CenterSquare Investment Management, MS Tactical Value and Conversant Capital, OP Trust and Cohen & Steers. The firm, a real estate investment trust or REIT, closed on a $1.6 billion investment round in September last year.

The company is now valued at roughly $15.5 billion.

Source : Crain’s Detroit Business