XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics, Inc

File:XPO Logistics logo.svg
Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: XPO
Predecessor	Express-1 Expedited Solutions
Key people	Bradley S. Jacobs (Chairman & CEO)
Services	Freight brokerage, intermodal shipping, drayage, contract logistics, last mile logistics, ground and air expedited freight, global freight forwarding, managed transportation
Revenue	$15 billion
Divisions	Transportation, logistics
Website	www.xpo.com

XPO Logistics, Inc. is a U.S. corporation and provider of supply chain management (SCM) and services in 32 countries. It specializes in intermodal freight transport and brokerage, expedited services for urgent shipments, less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping for small freight, and last-mile services including home delivery and installation.

XPO is the second-largest freight brokerage firm in the world by net revenue, and the second-largest contract logistics provider by square footage of facility space. It has an annual revenue of approximately $15 billion, with more than 1,450 locations and a workforce of over 84,000 employees.

The company's corporate headquarters is located in Greenwich, Connecticut. Its European headquarters is in Lyon, France.

Operations

XPO Logistics manages a broad selection of supply chain services, including truck brokerage and transportation, less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping, contract logistics, intermodal transport, drayage, last-mile logistics, expedited shipping, and global freight forwarding and transportation management. It controls facilities for warehousing, e-commerce fulfillment, reverse logistics, packaging, and other SCM functions; and cross-dock terminals and service centers that get used by its LTL, truckload, last-mile, drayage, and expedite networks. The company’s owned assets include 19,000 tractors, 46,000 trailers, 11,000 intermodal containers, and 9,000 container chassis.

XPO's operations are part of the SmartWay Transport Partnership, a program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Under the program, freight shippers, carriers, and logistics companies voluntarily collaborate to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Technology

As of 2015, XPO spends $225 million annually on its tech infrastructure. It's credited with being able to handle more expedited shipments than any other freight manager, thanks to its IT investments. The company's freight optimization system and cloud-based data mining enable predictive pricing and network optimization, and help free field offices from having to source additional carrier capacity.

XPO has also invested in voice-to-text technology to create paper- and keyboard-free offices; tagging technology for shipping containers, to help ease port congestion; and GPS tracking for intermodal shipping containers.

History

Express-1 Expedited Solutions

XPO Logistics was founded in May 1989 by Michael Welch and Keith Avery as Express-1 Expedited Solutions, a provider of logistics services for time-critical, high-value shipments. The company was purchased in August 2004 by Segmentz, Inc., a transportation firm that traded publicly as NYSE AMEX: SZI. In 2006, Segmentz changed its name to Express-1 Expedited Solutions, which had become its main operating unit, and began trading its stock under the new symbol XPO.

In 2008 and 2009, Express-1 diversified its business through a series of launches and acquisitions:

• In January 2008, the company completed the acquisition of freight forwarder Concert Group Logistics, Inc.
• In March 2008, it launched Bounce Logistics, Inc., a business unit providing freight brokerage services.
• In February 2009, Express-1 developed its operations in the Midwest with the acquisition of First Class Expediting Services, Inc.
• In October 2009, it expanded its freight forwarding business by acquiring LRG International, Inc.

Transition to XPO Logistics

In September 2011, American businessman Bradley Jacobs gained approximately 71 percent ownership in Express-1 when he led an investment of up to $150 million, including up to $135 million through his firm Jacobs Private Equity LLC. He assumed the roles of chairman of the board and CEO, announced plans to move the company's headquarters from Michigan to Greenwich, CT, and changed its name to XPO Logistics, continuing to trade its stock under the symbol XPO on the NYSE AMEX Exchange.

In March 2012, XPO opened a national operations center in Charlotte, N.C. The North Carolina Economic Investment Committee awarded XPO a Job Development Investment Grant, making it eligible to receive a maximum benefit package of $3.22 million. Another $1.07 million was received from the state’s utility fund for infrastructure improvements.

On March 12, 2012, XPO announced an underwritten public offering of 6.0 million shares of common stock. The company subsequently priced the offering as 8.0 million shares at $15.75 per share, and closed it at 9.2 million shares, with net proceeds of roughly $136.7 million.

On June 14, 2012, XPO Logistics listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

In March 2013, the office of North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced that XPO's expansion of its national operations center would bring 287 new jobs to Charlotte within 21 months.

In July 2013, XPO announced the closing of a registered underwritten public offering of almost 9.7 million shares of common stock, at a public price of $22.75 per share.

In November 2013, the company announced that it had rebranded its Concert Group Logistics division to XPO Global Logistics, to better reflect the role of freight forwarding within the company.

On September 11, 2014, XPO announced a definitive agreement with PSP Investments, GIC, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan to invest $700 million in XPO to accelerate the company’s growth strategy.

Major acquisitions

Since its March 2012 public offering, XPO has acquired 16 companies through a combination of cash and stock transactions. (See List of all XPO acquisitions below.)

At the end of November 2012, CEO Bradley Jacobs confirmed that XPO had "about $265 million on the balance sheet" to fund "maybe three, four, five acquisitions a year." Its most recent acquisition of Con-way took place in October 2015, for approximately $3 billion.

3PD

In July 2013, XPO announced its entrance into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the common stock of 3PD, Inc. in a transaction valued at approximately $365 million. 3PD was the largest third-party provider of last-mile logistics for heavy goods in North America. The purchase was completed on August 16, 2013, making XPO Logistics the largest heavy goods home delivery provider in North America.

National Logistics Management

On December 28, 2013, XPO completed the acquisition of National Logistics Management from Landstar System, Inc. This made XPO the largest manager of expedite shipments in North America with the addition of industry-leading transportation management technology for expedite load assignment. The company funded the $87 million cash acquisition through its asset-based lending facility and available cash, including approximately $13.4 million of cash acquired on closing.

Pacer International

On March 31, 2014, XPO became the third-largest intermodal provider in North America with its acquisition of Pacer International, Inc. in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $335 million. XPO financed the cash portion of the acquisition, and related fees and expenses, through a combination of cash on hand and some of the proceeds of a $414 million public offering of common stock. With the acquisition, XPO facilitated approximately 10 percent of all domestic intermodal freight movements and became the largest provider of intermodal services between the U.S. and Mexico.

New Breed Logistics

On September 2, 2014, XPO Logistics acquired New Breed Logistics, a U.S. provider of highly engineered contract logistics solutions for blue chip customers. The acquisition expanded XPO’s 2014 operations to 203 locations and approximately 10,400 employees. XPO financed the $615 million cash purchase price with the proceeds from its August 2014 private placement of $500 million of senior notes and available cash on hand. With the acquisition of New Breed, XPO gained specialized, technology-enabled services for omni-channel distribution, reverse logistics, transportation management, freight bill audit and payment, lean manufacturing support, aftermarket support, and supply chain optimization. They are concentrated in industries with high-growth outsourcing opportunities, including telecom/technology, retail/e-commerce, aerospace and defense, medical equipment, and select areas of manufacturing.

Norbert Dentressangle

On April 28, 2015, XPO announced a $3.53 billion (€3.24 billion) deal to acquire the major French logistics group Norbert Dentressangle. The acquisition was completed on June 8, and made XPO one of the world's top ten logistics companies, with approximately 52,000 employees serving over 30,000 customers, and 863 locations in 27 countries. XPO became a leading European e-fulfillment provider and gained European platforms for freight brokerage, LTL transportation, managed transportation, dedicated and owned truckload services, and global freight forwarding. It also became the second-largest contract logistics provider in the world based on square footage, with over 120 million square feet of facility space. XPO now holds an 86.25% controlling interest in Norbert Dentressangle SA.

Con-way

On October 30, 2015, XPO acquired the U.S. public company Con-way, Inc., a major transportation and logistics provider, for approximately $3 billion. The acquisition made XPO the second-largest less-than-truckload (LTL) provider in North America; increased the company’s contract logistics facility space to over 151 million square feet worldwide and expanded its managed transportation, freight brokerage, and truckload services. On November 4, 2015, XPO named veteran trucking executive Tony Brooks as president of its LTL business.

By acquiring Con-way, XPO further diversified its ground transportation model in North America to include brokered, owned, and contracted capacity, similar to its transportation network in Europe. The company’s owned assets now include approximately 19,000 tractors and 46,000 trailers. Additional capacity is provided to customers through 10,000 independent owner-operator trucks, and access to more than 50,000 independent carriers.

List of all XPO acquisitions

Year	Date	Company	Function	Service area	Purchase price	Sources
2012	May	Continental Freight Services	Truck brokerage	SC	$3.4 million
	May	Kelron Logistics, Inc.	Truck brokerage	Canada	$8 million
	October	BirdDog Logistics, LLC	Freight brokerage	NC
	October	Turbo Logistics, Inc.	Freight brokerage	GA, NV, IL, TX	$50 million
2013	February	Covered Logistics & Transportation LLC	Truck brokerage	IL, TX	$11 million
	February 8	East Coast Air Charter, Inc.	Expedited air charter broker	U.S. (East coast)	$9.25 million
	August 16	3PD, Inc.	Last-mile logistics for heavy goods	U.S.	$365 million
	November 15	Optima Service Solutions, LLC	Last-mile logistics	U.S.	$26.6 million
	December 28	National Logistics Management	Expedited shipper	North America	$87 million
2014	March 31	Pacer International, Inc.	Intermodal provider	North America	$335 million
	July 28	Atlantic Central Logistics	Last-mile logistics, e-commerce fulfillment	U.S. (East coast)	$36.5 million
	September 2	New Breed Logistics	General transportation & logistics	U.S.	$615 million
2015	February	UX Specialized Logistics	Last-mile logistics for heavy goods	North America	$59 million
	May	Bridge Terminal Transport	Drayage	U.S. (East coast)
	June 8	Norbert Dentressangle	Supply chain management	France	$3.53 billion (€3.24 billion)
	October 30	Con-way, Inc.	General transportation & logistics	U.S.	$3 billion

Awards and recognition

• 2009 - 2010: National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council Expedited Carrier of the Year
• 2010: Inbound Logistics Top 100 Motor Freight Carrier
• 2010: Great West Casualty Company National Safety Gold Award
• 2011: Whirlpool Corporation Special Services Supplier of the Year
• 2011: UPS Urgent Services Carrier of the Year
• 2011: SupplyChainBrain Great Supply Chain Partner
• 2012: Transport Topics Top 25 Freight Brokerage Firms
• 2015: Home Depot Mid-Size Truckload Carrier of the Year
• 2015: SmartWay Excellence Award for environmental improvement
• 2015: Logistico dell’Anno Award (Italy) for supply chain innovation
• 2015: Whirlpool Corporation Intermodal Carrier of the Year

See also

• Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (X)
• Economy of Connecticut

External links

• Official website