XPO Logistics Agrees to Buy Norbert Dentressangle for $3.53 Billion

XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics

XPO Logistics Inc. agreed to buy French logistics company Norbert Dentressangle SA for $3.53 billion to expand in the global sector, a move that will nearly triple the U.S. company’s revenue.

XPO, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, ranks No. 12 in the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in North America. It agreed to buy a majority stake in Norbert and make a tender offer for the remaining shares of the company, with 42,000 employees, 662 offices and more than $5.5 billion in 2014 revenue.

Norbert’s specialties include contract logistics, brokerage and forwarding. The company burst onto the U.S. market in 2014 by acquiring Jacobson Cos., a U.S. logistics operator.

“This is a major milestone in the growth of XPO,” CEO Bradley Jacobs told TT. “As we have been saying for the last 3½ years, we believe scale is important to our customers.”

The transaction will bring XPO’s annual revenue to approximately $8.5 billion, approaching a revenue target that Jacobs set for the company two years from now.

He told TT he didn’t expect any regulatory barriers to the plan that will be funded in part with cash and primarily with $2.5 billion in a financing commitment from Morgan Stanley.

REACTION: The Internet Reacts to $3.53 Billion Deal

VIDEO: Early April interview with Brad Jacobs of XPO Logistics

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Norbert’s name will be changed to XPO Logistics Worldwide.

Jacobs said he didn’t anticipate regulatory hurdles in the United States or Europe.

The offer includes 2.17 billion euros in cash for the seller’s 9.9 million shares and the assumption of 1.08 billion euros in debt.

Hervé Montjotin, chairman of the executive board and CEO of No. 25 Norbert Dentressangle, will become CEO of XPO’s European business and president of the U.S. company.

The acquisition will more than triple earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to $545 million, Jacobs said.

“Our planned acquisition of Norbert Dentressangle will catapult XPO to a top-10 global logistics company,” Jacobs said. “The acquisition of Norbert Dentressangle is a major leap forward, but we’re still in the early innings of our long-term growth plan.”