Jacobs: XPO Logistics eyeing more M&A targets

The Greenwich, Conn.-based third-party logistics provider will focus on companies that will bolster its existing business lines, particularly in contract logistics, rather than adding new services, according to a Wall Street Journal report.    XPO Logistics is getting back into the mergers-and-acquisitions marketplace, and is eying potential targets in Europe and North America, XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs said last week at a supply-chain management conference in Chicago, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
   The Greenwich, Conn.-based third-party logistics provider will focus on companies that will bolster its existing business lines, particularly in contract logistics, rather than adding new services, Jacobs said.
   “We’re looking at deals that are mostly over $500 million of EBITDA, with a few exceptions,” he said. “Some of them are smaller, because they’re strategic, but by and large, we’re looking at the larger deals where we can apply the skills that we’ve honed as a team to integrate, to optimize and get the synergy.”
   XPO Logistics has bought over a dozen logistics businesses during the past five years, and its buying binge peaked in 2015 with its purchases of French transportation and logistics firm Norbert Dentressangle SA for $3.5 billion, and asset-based truckload and less-than-truckload transportation services provider Con-way Inc. for $3 billion.
   For the first quarter of 2017, XPO Logistics posted a net income of $24.9 million compared to a net loss of $19.3 million during the prior year first quarter, while revenues slipped 0.2 percent year-over-year to $3.54 billion. The company currently has over 89,000 employees across 1,431 locations worldwide.