Daseke to Go Public as Part of $626 Million Deal
Addison, Texas-based trucking company Daseke Inc. expects to go public early next year as part of a sale of the company to a Houston-based private equity firm, Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. II, in a $626 million debt and equity financed deal.
Founder Don Daseke will stay on as chairman and CEO of the company he started in 2008. Daseke expanded it into a business with sales this year of $679 million, largely from buying other trucking firms. Among its top 10 customers are Boeing, Caterpillar, General Electric and Nucor.
Daseke ranks No. 44 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
When the deal is completed, which is expected to be in the first quarter of 2017, Daseke management will own 50% of the company. Hennessy said it has all the required financing lined up including a $350 million new term loan from Credit Suisse and UBS Investment. A $70 million new asset based credit facility was committed by PNC Bank. Another $100 million is from private placements.
Daseke's common shares and warrants will be publicly traded on Nasdaq. As part of the transaction Hennessy, which is already publicly traded, is changing its name to Daseke and the securities will trade under the symbols "DSKE" and "DSKEW."
Hennessy Capital was formed in 2015 without operations, but with the intent to merge with a company and take it public. Hennessy Capital's shares gained 9 cents to close at $10.00 on Dec. 23.
Early this year, in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Daseke forecast 2016 sales of at least $750 million. While revenue fell short, the companies said Dec. 23 in a prepared statement that taking Daseke public will allow it to buy more companies, support growth of its existing business and offer stock to employees. The company has 3,000 employees.
Trucking companies can be specialized in what they carry and types of equipment they use to transport goods. Daseke says it's the largest U.S. owner of open-deck, heavy hauling equipment able to transport things such as submarine parts and a 390,000 pound, 23 1/2 foot tall acidizer for a refinery. It's the second largest open deck transportation company by revenue.
Daseke said in a presentation to investors Dec. 23 that the open deck freight business is still fragmented. It's a $133 billion business in North America, and with its annual sales of not yet $1 billion, it's the largest.
Daseke, 77, said that while his company has "less than 1%" of the highly fragmented market, he believes it has "the most experienced management teach in the open deck and specialized transportation industry."
"We see an amazing opportunity to continue our growth through working daily to achieve operational excellence and by adding quality carriers to our family," he said.
The company has identified 357 companies with more than 100 open-deck trucks.
This is the second company Daseke, 77, has built and taken public. In 1994, Walden Residential, a company he built that owned and developed apartments, went public. It was later taken private in a deal valued at $1.7 billion.
