William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Mar 13, 2012 11:12AM EDT
XPO Logistics, a third-party logistics company with plans to expand by acquisition, will sell 6 million shares of common stock in a public offering.
The Buchanan, Mich.-based company said it intends to use the proceeds of the stock offering for “general corporate purposes,” including potential acquisitions.
The offering’s underwriters, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and Jefferies, have a 30-day option to purchase an additional 900,000 shares of XPO stock.
XPO, formerly Express-1 Expedited Solutions, increased operating revenue 12 percent in 2011 to $177.1 million and reported a net profit of $759,000.
The company reported a net loss of $1.5 million in the 2011 fourth quarter on $44.1 million in revenue. Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 6.1 percent.
Chairman and CEO Bradley Jacobs said developing a new technology infrastructure and assembling an executive team had an “anticipated impact” on XPO’s profit.
“These are strategic investments that should return significant benefits as we further execute our plan,” said Jacobs, a private equity investor and entrepreneur.
Jacobs, the founder of billion-dollar enterprises United Waste and United Rentals, became chief executive of XPO after investing $150 million in the company last year.
He plans to build XPO into a multibillion-dollar transportation and logistics business through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth.
XPO operates three subsidiaries — Express-1, an expedited carrier; Concert Group Logistics, a freight forwarder; and Bounce Logistics, a trucking broker.
The first phase of the company’s new IT platform, a single, scalable, company-wide system that will help XPO expand, will be rolled out this month, he said.
“We’re now immersed in a robust pipeline of acquisition prospects, confident in our ability to rapidly scale and manage operations of any size,” Jacobs said.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc.
