TFI International agreed to buy UPS Freight for US$800 million
In January 2021, the Montreal-based carrier announced its biggest deal yet, adding a U.S. less-than-truckload network that would run as TForce Freight.
On Jan. 25, 2021, TFI International announced a definitive agreement to buy UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload (LTL) and dedicated truckload divisions of United Parcel Service, for US$800 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
The deal
- UPS Freight generated about US$3 billion in revenue in 2020 and was roughly breakeven on an operating basis, according to TFI.
- About 90 per cent of the business would run independently inside TFI's LTL segment under a new name, TForce Freight. The dedicated truckload assets would join TFI's truckload segment.
- The purchase included a network of 197 facilities, 147 of them owned.
- Under a five-year base agreement, TForce Freight would keep serving UPS's LTL needs, and UPS would keep supplying freight volumes and other services.
- UPS kept responsibility for pre-closing pension obligations, taxes, and accident and workers' compensation claims.
TFI chairman, president and CEO Alain Bédard said the deal would make TFI one of the largest LTL carriers in North America. Combined with TFI's Canadian LTL operations, he said, it would create what the company believed would be the most comprehensive LTL network on the continent. TFI also said it planned targeted investments in the LTL fleet in the first year to cut maintenance costs and improve efficiency and safety.
TFI announced on April 30, 2021, that the acquisition had closed.