Fenway Partners Acquires East Coast Warehouse and Distribution

Fenway Partners Acquires East Coast Warehouse and Distribution Investment company Fenway Partners has acquired a majority interest in East Coast Warehouse and Distribution Corp. and related companies, including Safeway Trucking Corp.
   The deal was done in partnership with the Lebovitz Family and completed in August, but announced this week. Financial terms were not disclosed.
   Headquartered in Elizabeth, N.J., East Coast said its services include temperature controlled public warehousing and contract warehousing, transportation, co-packing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection examination services, container logistics, and temperature controlled national pool consolidation. Customers include confectionary, cheese, grocery, pharmaceutical, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage businesses.
   East Coast has 275 employees and operates five facilities in New Jersey totaling about 1.7 million square feet of space.
   East Coast will become part of Fenway’s Refrigerated Holdings unit, joining Gemini Traffic Sales, a temperature-controlled truckload and less-than-truckload carrier that Fenway bought in February 2007.
   Robert J. Adams, previously president of Gemini Traffic Sales Inc., has been named president and chief executive officer of Refrigerated Holdings.
   Marc Lebovitz, president of East Coast, said, “We recognize the importance of having a financial partner to assist with future growth. Of the private equity firms we met, we saw a distinct benefit to partnering with Fenway. Fenway’s expertise in the logistics sector and extensive network of transportation industry resources is a clear advantage for both us and them.”
   Fenway also owns Panther Expedited Services and RoadLink, and has a minority interest in Greatwide Logistics.