A.P. Moller-Maersk is making good use of the profits it’s raking in (see Wednesday’s post ‘Maersk reports record 2021 earnings – 2022 looking good’), with an announcement of its intended acquisition of Pilot Freight Services (Pilot).
The US-based first-, middle- and last -mile border crossing solutions provider specialises in the big and bulky freight segment in North America for B2C and B2B distribution models, from ATL Partners, a sector-focused private equity firm in New York and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), one of the largest institutional investors in Canada.
“With the intended acquisition of Pilot, Maersk will extend its integrated logistics offering deeper into the supply chain of its customers,” says APM CEO of ocean and logistics, Vincent Clerc.
“It will complement earlier acquisitions already made to provide integrated logistics solutions in North America, especially with Performance Team (PT) (B2B warehousing and distribution) and Visible SCM (e-commerce warehousing and parcel distribution).
"Pilot will add specific new services within the fast-growing big and bulky e-commerce segment, thus increasing cross-selling opportunities. It will also create significant cost synergies by leveraging capabilities across the different parts of service solutions,” he said.
He believes that adding the capabilities of Pilot will help support customers through the acceleration of the migration towards e-commerce.
Pilot operates a North American facilities-based transportation network of 87 stations and hubs through which freight is transported and distributed to end customers.
The company uses mainly third party providers for trucking and has access to controlled capacity.
The scope encompasses full truckload (FTL) and less-than-truckload (LTL) for both B2C and B2B distribution.
The combined Pilot and Maersk scale will offer customers approximately 150 facilities in the US, including distribution centres, hubs and stations.
The value of the transaction is US$ 1.68bn. The acquisition is subject to regulatory review and approval which is expected to be obtained by Q2 2022. Both companies will operate as independent businesses and run their operations as usual until that time.
