The freight brokerage company, which just completed the acquisition of AFN, is looking at four more opportunities.
GlobalTranz, a technology-driven freight brokerage company, remains on course with its growth strategy by closing on its purchase of AFN.
The companies signed off on the acquisition last month, and the deal officially closed last week.
The acquisition, financial terms of which were not disclosed, increases GlobalTranz’s market share in third-party logistics services and allows AFN to leverage its suite of technology solutions.
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GlobalTranz, which was founded in 2003, specializes in less-than-truckload, full truckload, 3PL and expedited shipping services.
AFN, which also was founded in 2003, is headquartered in the Chicagoland area and specializes in freight brokerage, 3PL and transportation management services.
AFN CEO Owen Schnaper told American Shipper Friday that one of the principal drivers of AFN’s growth has been predictive analytics and pricing. Schnaper said the acquisition was great for AFN because GlobalTranz has the “best-in-class” technology.
“I am excited to write the next chapter in AFN’s evolution with GlobalTranz,” Schnaper said in a press release last month. “Since Ryan Daube founded the business 15 years ago, AFN has focused on driving high value for its customers through unparalleled service with trusted freight carriers providing high-quality, consistent capacity. By combining with GlobalTranz, AFN can continue the history on a bigger platform with differentiated technology. I know this combination will be attractive and beneficial to our clients and partners alike.”
GlobalTranz CEO Bob Farrell told American Shipper Friday that GlobalTranz has two types of customers — a large number of small and medium-sized businesses that use its technology in a self-service manner to facilitate the movement of freight and some enterprise customers with a larger, strategic relationship. Meanwhile, AFN has been more focused on enterprise customers.
Farrell described GlobalTranz as a “technology company that happens to move freight.” He said GlobalTranz’s technology could stand on its own, but the company does not sell its technology because it is a “company of execution.”
GlobalTranz’s products include GTZconnect, which is a logistics platform that connects shippers with carriers, freight agents and GlobalTranz’s suite of logistics services. GTZconnect provides detailed shipment visibility, from pricing and load management to payment and performance, according to GlobalTranz.
GlobalTranz also offers GTZship, which is a transportation management solution for effectively managing freight — from rates to payment — across all modes and geographies.
The company’s GTZcommand solution provides control tower visibility to better manage, track and optimize logistics operations.
The GTZpartner solution is a transportation and inventory management platform tailored to the needs of GlobalTranz’s carriers, warehousing and logistics vendors. “Carriers handling shipments for GlobalTranz use GTZpartner to browse available loads, provide tracking updates, update PU/delivery ETAs and exchange load documents online for quick payment processing and view performance reports,” the company said. “The system continuously analyzes data from multiple sources to help carriers and logistics vendors align their capacity with the needs of the GlobalTranz supply chain network.”
GlobalTranz’s suite of products also includes GTZintegrate, which allows shippers and their suppliers, carriers, brokers and 3PLs to fully connect their ERP, CRM, order management, warehouse management and back-office systems with their freight management operations.
Additionally, GTZanalytics allows shippers, carriers, brokers and 3PLs to combine data from various sources and instantly reveal insights to grow their businesses and create competitive advantages for their customers.
GlobalTranz said in a press release that year-over-year, third quarter 2018 revenues increased 30 percent, net revenues increased 40 percent and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 120 percent.
Farrell said GlobalTranz’s growth has been 100 percent organic.
Going forward, he said GlobalTranz plans to continue to grow organically and through acquisitions and that the company currently is examining four acquisition opportunities. However, he noted there is tough competition, particularly with private equity sponsors, to acquire good companies,.
When looking at acquisition targets, Farrell said that being a good cultural fit is extremely important to GlobalTranz. He noted that AFN shared the same kind of values as GlobalTranz, thus making the integration process easier.
In addition to AFN, GlobalTranz has made six other acquisitions since January 2017: Synchone, AJR Transportation, Apex Logistics Group, Global Freight Source, Logistics Planning Services and Worthington Logistics Solutions.
Farrell pointed out that Apex Logistics gave GlobalTranz the ability to have a better offering in temperature-controlled movements, while Logistics Planning Services helped build up GlobalTranz’s managed transportation business.
GlobalTranz’s growth remains in high gear
