William Blair acted as a financial advisor to the consortium of CVC Capital Partners (CVC), Providence Equity (Providence), and PSG, in connection with the merger of Worldwide Express, a portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners, and GlobalTranz, a portfolio company of Providence and PSG.
Transaction Highlights
- Deep sector expertise: CVC, Providence, and PSG were attracted to William Blair’s deep knowledge and industry experience within transportation and logistics and transportation software.
- Process and execution excellence: William Blair successfully advised CVC, Providence, and PSG through a robust, highly accelerated diligence process. The transaction team collaborated on developing perspectives on market dynamics, key issues, benchmarking, and valuation observations, among other analyses.
- Strong relationships and trusted guidance: William Blair has maintained long-term and active relationships with CVC, Providence, and PSG, having closed 6 prior transactions with the firms in the last twelve months.
About the Companies
Worldwide Express is a full-service, non-asset-based logistics provider offering more than 92,000 customers access to industry-leading small package, truckload and less-than-truckload shipping solutions around the world. With an annual systemwide revenue approaching $2 billion through a network of company-owned and franchise locations, Worldwide Express, combined with Unishippers Global Logistics, LLC, is the second-largest privately held freight brokerage company in the country. As the largest authorized UPS® non-retail reseller in the US, the company is a local partner for the global supply chains of small- to medium-sized businesses nationwide. This, coupled with a selective portfolio of 65+ LTL and tens of thousands of truckload carriers, provides clients with an unmatched range of options and flexibility to meet their shipping needs.
GlobalTranz is a full-service third-party logistics provider, bringing award-winning customer service, exceptional industry expertise and market-leading technology to shippers, carriers, and logistics service providers. GlobalTranz’s people-powered approach combined with comprehensive, relationship-driven support provides shippers of all sizes with fast and reliable, multi-modal transportation services as well as strategic supply chain solutions – enabling them to optimize efficiency and deliver on business goals. Leveraging its extensive independent agent network, GlobalTranz has emerged as a fast-growing market leader with a customer base of over 1 million product users and 25,000 shippers.
CVC Capital Partners is a leading private equity and investment advisory firm with a network of 23 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the US, with approximately US$118 billion of assets under management. Since its founding in 1981, CVC has secured commitments in excess of US$160 billion from some of the world's leading institutional investors across its private equity and credit strategies. Funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in over 90 companies worldwide, which have combined annual sales of approximately US$100 billion and employ more than 450,000 people.
Providence Equity Partners is a premier global private equity firm with approximately $45 billion in aggregate capital commitments. Providence pioneered a sector-focused approach to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. Since the firm's inception in 1989, Providence has invested in over 170 companies and is a leading equity investment firm focused on the media, communications, education, software and services industries. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI, and also has offices in New York and London.
PSG is a growth equity firm that partners with middle-market software and technology enabled services companies to help them navigate transformational growth, capitalize on strategic opportunities and build strong teams. Having backed more than 65 companies and facilitated over 300 add-on acquisitions, PSG brings extensive investment experience, deep expertise in software and technology, and a firm commitment to collaborating with management teams. Founded in 2014, PSG operates out of offices in Boston, Kansas City and London.
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