Forward Air Corporation Announces Acquisition of Atlantic

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GREENEVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Central States Trucking Co. (“CST”), has entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Atlantic Trucking Company, Inc., Heavy Duty Equipment Leasing, LLC, Atlantic Logistics, LLC and Transportation Holdings, Inc. (together referred to as “Atlantic” in this release). The closing of the transaction is subject to various customary conditions, including but not limited to, compliance with the covenants and agreements in the definitive agreement in all material respects. It is anticipated that the transaction will close prior to the conclusion of the second quarter of 2017.

Atlantic is a privately held provider of intermodal, drayage and related services headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. It also has terminal operations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Jacksonville, Memphis, Nashville, Norfolk and Savannah. During calendar year 2016, Atlantic generated approximately $62.3 million in revenue and $5.1m of EBITDA. Atlantic is expected to be accretive to Forward Air’s earnings starting in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Commenting on the acquisition, Matthew J. Jewell, President of Logistics Services at Forward Air, said, “We are pleased to add Atlantic to our Intermodal segment. Atlantic has the management talent, fleet size, customer base, geographic footprint and quality of operations that we have been looking for to serve as our Southeast beachhead, and to complement our Midwest legacy locations. There is very little overlap between CST and Atlantic’s service locations. Accordingly, this acquisition will enable CST to provide a greatly expanded geographic breadth of service to our customers. We are excited to welcome the entire Atlantic team on board with us.” Kevin O’Donnel, President of Atlantic, added, “This is an exciting opportunity for our team to become a part of one of the fastest growing and financially secure companies in our industry. CST has an impeccable reputation and we are very much looking forward to contributing to their continued success.”

About Forward Air Corporation

Forward Air Corporation’s (“the Company”, “we”, “our”) services are classified into four principal reportable segments: Expedited LTL, Truckload Premium Services (“TLS”), Intermodal and Pool Distribution.

In our Expedited LTL segment, we provide time-definite transportation services to the North American deferred air freight market. Our Expedited LTL service operates a comprehensive national network for the time-definite surface transportation of expedited ground freight. The Expedited LTL service offers customers local pick-up and delivery and scheduled surface transportation of cargo as a cost effective, reliable alternative to air transportation. Expedited LTL’s other services include shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling. The Expedited LTL segment primarily provides its transportation services through a network of terminals located at or near airports in the United States and Canada.

In our TLS segment, we provide expedited truckload brokerage, dedicated fleet services and maximum security and temperature-controlled logistics services. We are able to expedite this service by utilizing a dedicated fleet of team owner operators, some team company drivers as well as third party transportation providers. The TLS segment provides full truckload service in the United States and Canada.

In our Intermodal segment, we provide container and intermodal drayage services primarily within the Midwest region of the United States. Drayage is essentially the first and last mile of the movement of an intermodal container. We are providing this service both to and from ports and rail heads. Our Intermodal segment also provides dedicated contract and Container Freight Station (“CFS”) warehouse and handling services.

In our Pool Distribution segment, we provide pool distribution services throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest and Southwest continental United States. Pool Distribution involves managing high-frequency handling and distribution of time-sensitive product to numerous destinations in specific geographic regions. Our primary customers for this service are regional and nationwide distributors and retailers, such as mall, strip mall and outlet based retail chains.

This press release may contain statements that might be considered as forward-looking statements or predictions of future operations, including the expected closing of the Atlantic acquisition, impact of the Atlantic acquisition including expected earning accretion, and expectation regarding the expansion of the Company’s services as a result of the acquisition. Such statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on management’s belief or interpretation of information currently available. These statements and assumptions involve certain risks and uncertainties. Actual events may differ from these expectations as specified from time to time in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no duty to update these statements as of any future date.

Forward Air Corporation
Michael J. Morris, 404-362-8933
mmorris@forwardair.com

Source: Forward Air Corporation

Released April 10, 2017