Echo Global Logistics acquires One Stop Logistics Inc.

Echo Global Logistics, a non-asset based freight brokerage company and a provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, said this week it has acquired the assets of One Stop Logistics Inc., a Watsonville, Ca.-based transportation brokerage.

The purchase price, according to Echo, was $37.3 million, with $19.8 million paid at closing and $13.8 million payable in January 2015 and $3.7 million payable in one year pursuant to terms of an earn-out agreement. Over the last 12 months, Echo said One Stop grew its total revenue by about 14 percent, with $50.7 million in gross revenue and $4.3 million of EBITDA after adjusting for non-recurring expenses.

One Stop was established in 1998 and is a non-asset provider of less-than-truckload (LTL) and truckload solutions and has locations in Northern California and Florida. Other services provided by One Stop include: international full container load and less-than-container (LCL) shipments via ocean or air transit; U.S.-based temperature-controlled services, with hundreds of vendor partners specializing in truckload and LTL temperature controlled freight; air- and ground-based expedited services; and trade show and convention services

It is led by Steve Brown, who has been with the company for 15 years, and will serve as regional vice president of the entity, which will now conduct business under the Echo Global Logistics Inc. moniker. Echo added that all existing One Stop staffers and management will remain with the company.

“One Stop is a profitable and impressive operator in the market for over the road transportation solutions,” said Douglas R. Waggoner, Echo CEO in a statement. “With this acquisition, we continue to position Echo for further growth by expanding our national coverage and leveraging our technology, our carrier network and our service offering.”

This is Echo’s third acquisition of 2014, bringing Jacksonville, Fla.-based Comcar Logistics, a non-asset based truckload brokerage Comcar Logistics into the fold in February and Online Freight Services, a third party logistics company headquartered in Mendota Heights, Minn, in January.

Echo has done 19 tuck-in acquisitions dating back to 2007.

“We have a pipeline [of acquisition targets] we are working out of and expect to do more this year,” Waggoner told LM in a recent interview. “We like the strategy because it is relatively low-risk and quick to integrate the acquired companies into Echo. We can add geographic presence, existing customer relationships and sales force, and it is a nice way to grow. Plus we have an experience in which once we acquire a company, typically within two or three years they double in size under Echo as we can help them grow faster and can them additional transportation loads to sell and give them our air price and contractual transportation management solutions to sell and we have had great success in turning acquired growth into organic growth as the acquired companies have grown under the Echo banner. We like that strategy and have not done any game-changing acquisitions, as those are the ones that have more risk. That is not to say we would not do one of those but have not at this point.”

Cowen & Co. analyst Jason Seidl wrote in a research note that Echo is strategically positioned to benefit from the fragmented and highly competitive brokerage market.

“Indeed, the current challenges facing the transportation industry and logistics sector may have a bright side for acquisitive companies such as Echo,” Seidl wrote. “Transportation brokers continue to see their margins squeezed, which could weigh on industry profitability and returns, making some players who were previously on the fence on whether to consider acquisition offers more likely to do so now.”