XPO considering sale of freight forwarding business

XPO Logistics Inc. is exploring the sale of its North American freight forwarding unit in a transaction that could be valued between $400 million to $600 million, according to a published report that was confirmed independently.

Bloomberg first reported the story late on Friday. FreightWaves subsequently received confirmation from people familiar with the matter.

The freight forwarding unit is part of a collection of four assets that XPO (NYSE: XPO) plans to spin off into a separate company during the fourth quarter. XPO’s truck brokerage division is the most prominent and profitable of the four. Besides freight forwarding, the others are final mile and managed transportation. 

The spinoff, combined with the eventual sale or listing of its European business and the late March sale of its North American intermodal operation for $710 million in cash to STG Logistics, will leave XPO as a pure-play LTL carrier. Last summer, it spun off its logistics business into what is now GXO Logistics Inc. (NYSE: GXO)

XPO doesn’t break out financial results for its freight forwarding business. The freight forwarding and managed transportation operations generated $551 million in revenue in the first quarter. The combined margin for the two companies was $166 million. XPO defines margin as gross revenue minus the cost of transportation and services, exclusive of depreciation and amortization.

The combined margin for XPO’s LTL and brokerage businesses was $594 million, about 60% of the $1.03 billion in total margin for the Greenwich, Connecticut-based company.

The FREIGHTWAVES TOP 500 For-Hire Carriers list includes XPO Logistics (No. 8).

Source: freightwaves - XPO considering sale of freight forwarding business
Editor: Mark Solomon