Daseke continues North American expansion with Steelman purchase

The Texas-based flatbed carrier has sealed the deal on its acquisition of The Steelman Companies, its third in just over two months as part of the company’s overall North America Expansion endeavor.    Flatbed conglomerate Daseke, Inc., has acquired The Steelman Companies for an undisclosed price, the company said in a statement.
   The acquisition is the third in the company’s “North American Expansion” project.
   “A key objective of our decision to go public in February was to enhance our ability to build North America’s premier flatbed and specialized transportation company,” said Don Daseke, president and CEO of Daseke.
   “We are the largest owner of equipment with over 3,600 trucks and over 7,500 flatbed and specialized trailers, yet Daseke still accounts for less than one percent of our $133 billion market segment,” he added. “We have now completed three mergers in just over two months and we’re proud to be executing as promised.”
   Daseke is a Texas-based owner of open-deck transportation which just acquired two other companies within the past two months – The Schilli Cos., headquartered in Indiana, and Canada-based Big Freight Systems.
   Last year, Midwest-based The Steelman Companies generated an estimated $46 million in revenue and an estimated $7 million in Adjusted EBITDA, according to Daseke. The company said that, combined with the two previous mergers, Daseke 2016 revenue and Adjusted EBITDA “would have been approximately $818 million and $108 million, respectively, a 25 percent increase and a 22 percent increase, respectively, compared to actual 2016 results.”