ABF Logistics brings Bear Transportation Services into the fold with $26 million acquisition

ArcBest’s 3PL subsidiary ABF Logistics acquired Plano, Texas-based Bear Transportation Services L.P. this week for $26 million.

Bear is a private, non-asset truckload brokerage firm, with more than 140 employees in Plano and Fayetville, Ark. It was established in 1982 and has roughly $120 million in annual revenue in providing services for myriad industry verticals, according to ArcBest.

ABF Logistics provides shippers with various services, including brokerage, intermodal and ocean transport, transportation management, and household moving.

“This company is an excellent fit for ABF Logistics, as we believe the purchase will drive growth and profitability by combining our vision, brand and customer relationships with Bear’s deep pool of experienced sales and operations team members,” said ABF Logistics President Jim Ingram in a statement. “We have admired the Bear organization for years and have been impressed with the skillsets and innovative IT concepts we have seen in action.”

This marks the second acquisition ABF Logistics has made in 2015, along with the purchase of Smart Lines Transportation Group in January. ABF Logistics was created in 2013.

Jason Seidl, transportation analyst at Cowen and Co., wrote in a research note that this tuck-in acquisition represents another step to reconfiguring the business exposure towards the logistics segment and non-asset business for ArcBest, which he said is a focal point of the company’s long-term strategy.

It appears that strategy is already paying off, with Seidl noting that ArcBest has grown its logistics revenues from 7 percent of the company’s total in 2009 to 30 percent of the total over the last 12 months.

“At its investor day last month, the company noted that over the next 3 years it is targeting the logistics segment to be 40 percent of the business and eventually get it up to 50 percent,” he wrote. “Some of this growth should come from organic growth and cross selling and some will likely come from acquisitions such as Bear Transportation. If these growth targets are met, the company should be able to shed the perception by the market that it is just a unionized LTL carrier.”