Apex Freight Services Tuesday announced its acquisition of a Colorado-based company specializing in transporting refrigerated goods.
Apex Freight Services announced Tuesday the finalization of the first of three buyouts expected over the next year. The company, which ranks No. 45 on ABiz's list of the Top 50 privately held companies in Acadiana with $22 million in 2012 revenues, acquired Timberline Freight Services, a Colorado-based company specialized in transporting refrigerated goods.
For Apex, today's announcement notes the Timberline deal "dramatically increases its cold-shipping expertise and [gives the company] access to the multibillion-dollar frozen food transportation industry."
The Timberline transaction illustrates a recent surge in the company's growth - revenues jumped by 46 percent in 2011 to $18.97 million and by 13.7 percent to finish 2012 at $21.57 million. The Timberline acquisition also represents the first of three expected buyouts - Apex will only say the other two deals involve companies in Illinois and Atlanta.
Those pending deals, says Apex founder and CEO Tracy Pellerin, are slated to close within the next 12 months.
Photo by Robin May
Apex Freight founder and CEO Tracy Pellerin
Pellerin, in a recent interview with ABiz for our annual Top 50 cover story, says the plan for Timberline is to close up shop in Colorado and bring all the company's assets and business back to Lafayette.
Other expansion plans include an overhaul of Apex's office on Hugh Wallace Road, with a groundbreaking expected in December for the construction of a new 15,000-square-foot corporate office - which Pellerin says includes a "fully equipped gym in support of the company's wellness program."
"Anyone can move standard freight through normal lanes - we specialize in jobs that other companies are unable or unwilling to take on," says Pellerin in a press release on today's announcement. "We also maintain some of the industry's strictest safety protocols to make sure both our customers and our company are protected."