Expedited transportation provider Premium Transportation Logistics’ (PTL) top two executives have joined with a recently hired sales executive to acquire PTL from Magnate Worldwide, which had bought Toledo-based PTL in March 2017.
The buyers include Jeff Curry, PTL’s president; Keith Avery, its operations manager; and Brad Kelley, a sales executive who recently joined PTL. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. PTL has annual revenue in the low-eight figure range, Curry said.
Magnate owns air freight service provider TrumpCard; customs broker and international logistics provider Masterpiece International; and freight forwarder and customs broker Domek Logistics. Magnate is based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.
The three PTL executives have a strong connection with transport and logistics provider XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE:XPO). Avery was a co-founder and Curry the president of Express-1, which started in 1989 as an expedited transport concern. Brad Jacobs acquired Express-1 in 2011 for $150 million and then re-branded the company. Kelley was a top sales executive at Express-1.
In an email, Curry said the acquisition will allow PTL to focus on transportation services with its owner-operator fleet, and allow Magnate to concentrate on freight forwarding and customs brokerage.
Magnate CEO Dante Fornari said in a separate email that the decision to sell PTL emerged over the past few months. PTL, Fornari said, “will be able to compete even more effectively in the expedited market, having additional flexibility to make commercial and operating adjustments as customer end-markets change.” In addition, Magnate can “focus on our two core service platforms…where we believe we have an expanding high value (and) specialized service offering,” Fornari said.