US: UPS to buy Coyote for $1.8 billion

United Parcel Service Inc said it would buy Coyote Logistics from private equity firm Warburg Pincus for $1.8 billion to expand its full-truckload services, the latest deal in a rapidly consolidating logistics industry.

Coyote Logistics connects customers to its network of more than 35,000 trucking operators in North America and caters to the food and beverage, consumer goods, paper and packaging, industrial as well as retail markets.

Brokers such as Coyote Logistics and XPO Logistics Inc (XPO.N) have reported rapid revenue growth in the past few quarters as the demand for trucks jumped due to widespread bottlenecks on rail networks.

“This deal shouldn’t move the needle at UPS, but could support shares of smaller brokers near-term by driving further consolidation speculation,” Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Bascome Majors wrote in a note on July 22, when Bloomberg reported of a possible UPS-Coyote Logistics deal.

The US freight market is estimated to be worth $300 billion, with full-truckload shipping accounting for just over half of that, according to logistics company G-Force Shipping.

Full content: The Wall Street Journal

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.