Nordic Transport Group (NTG) has signed a deal on an acquisition of US transportation company Aries Global Logistics (AGL), according to a stock exchange announcement Tuesday night.

The price is set at USD 70m, and the deal is made on a debt-free basis. Also, the agreement contains further earn-out payments for up to USD 35m depending on the companies’ development in 2022 and 2023.

AGL deals in forwarding of air and sea freight and furthermore offers a number of services such as storage facilities and customs processing.

Last year, AGL’s revenue landed at roughly USD 285m, while the operating result (EBIT) came to approximately USD 15m. As such, this is NTG’s biggest acquisition so far.

NTG expects to bring in synergies of USD 2.5-3.5m from the purchase and will – when the deal is completed – provide further details on its expectations for 2022.

Great match

In a statement sent to ShippingWatch’s sister media MobilityWatch, NTG Chief Executive Michael Larsen says that it’s a ”great match.”

”With the acquisition of AGL, we double our size in our Air & Ocean division, and we thereby manifest our position as a global player,” states the top exec.

”AGL and NTG share the same values. AGL has – like NTG – a decentralized organization and builds on a culture defined by entrepreneurship, in which the commercial and operational ownership is to a high degree locally anchored. This harmonizes with NTG’s way of doing business. And as such, the acquisition makes a lot of sense to us – both organizationally and in terms of values.”

The statement also reads that AGL’s founder and President Frank D’Ambra will continue in his current role. At the same time, he and Vice President Joseph Greco intend to reinvest in NTG as per the deal.

”AGL will be the center of our activities within air and sea freight in the US. They have a strong and well-developed network of collaborators both nationally and internationally as well as good customer relations, which we look forward to nurse even further in the future,” continues Larsen.

After the completion of the acquisition – which is expected to be fully done in June at the latest – NTG’s current US subsidiaries will merge with AGL, which, as mentioned, will be the future basis of the US activities within air and ocean.

AGL is headquartered in New York and has an additional eight offices around the US.

English edit: Kristoffer Grønbæk

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