UPDATE: C.H. Robinson acquisition of RXO may give a jolt to industry consolidation

Deal between the two 3PL giants is a combination of cash and shares

C.H. Robinson is acquiring RXO. (Photo: C.H. Robinson)

In a move that may have been foreshadowed by strong upward stock movement Thursday and Friday, C.H. Robinson, the country’s biggest 3PL, is getting a lot bigger by acquiring RXO.

The transaction was announced Monday morning. 

RXO’s (NYSE: RXO) stock price had risen sharply Thursday and Friday, with it rising Friday by $2.02, a gain of 9.46% to $23.38. 

Under the terms of the deal, RXO shareholders will receive $17.25 per share in cash and 0.0856 shares of C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) for one share of RXO. According to the C.H. Robinson release on the transaction, given the closing C.H. Robinson price of $157.72 per share on Friday, that puts the value of each RXO share at $30.25 per share.

At approximately 7:20 a.m., after the deal was announced, C.H. Robinson’s shares in pre-market trading were down 4.89% to $150, a drop of $7.72, while RXO’s shares were up 21.86% to $28.49/share, a gain of $5.11. 

“The acquisition of RXO brings together two complementary networks and diversifies and strengthens C.H. Robinson’s multi-modal platform to accelerate its growth and increase its penetration across all modes and segments,” C.H. Robinson said in the prepared statement announcing the deal. “Combining both companies’ robust trucking brokerage and managed transportation businesses, along with C.H. Robinson’s global forwarding and RXO’s strengths in expedited and last mile, will create a more comprehensive offering for customers across a larger and denser network.”

This is a developing story,

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John Kingston

John has an almost 50-year career as a journalist, most of them covering commodities and markets. The largest part of his career was spent at Platts, now part of S&P Global Energy. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment. He was awarded the 2020 Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Energy Award for Lifetime Achievement for the Advancement of International Energy Journalism.