AIT Worldwide Logistics taps venture backing for latest acquisition
Freight forwarder buys Texas transportation provider Intelligent Logistics.
Venture capital-backed freight forwarder AIT Worldwide Logistics has acquired Intelligent Logistics, a firm that offers freight forwarding, cartage, warehousing, and truckload brokerage services.
Itasca, Illinois-based AIT said the move will add 70 employees as well as 143,000 square feet of warehouse space and 40 dock doors across Intelligent Logistics’ two facilities in Austin and San Antonio.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Austin, Texas-based Intelligent Logistics also manages the Spur Freight brand--which provides trucking, distribution, and warehousing--and serves a broad range of specialized sectors, including technology, food and beverage, automotive, manufacturing, and e-commerce reverse logistics, handling nearly 40,000 shipments annually.
AIT has been growing rapidly through a swift series of acquisitions, buying 11 companies between 2017 and 2021, when its partial owner, the private equity group Quad-C Management Inc., sold its stake in the firm to another investment group, The Jordan Co. (TJC).
Those deals include Multimodal International Ltd. earlier this year, Panther Logistics and Fiege Forwarding in 2020, Los Angeles-based freight forwarder Unitrans International Corporation in 2019, and food logistics experts WorldFresh Express and U.K.-based ConneXion World Cargo in 2018.
With the change of ownership stake to TJC, AIT said at the time it would continue to pursue a strategic growth plan with an emphasis on global expansion both organically and through acquisitions that enhance support for customer supply chains. The latest move proves that to be true.
“With strategic acquisitions like Intelligent Logistics, AIT continues to implement our plans for global growth, adding valuable expertise and facilities to our expanding worldwide network,” AIT Executive Vice President, Global Operations, Greg Weigel, said in a release. “I’m happy to welcome our newest transportation logistics professionals to the team and looking forward to all we’ll accomplish together.”