UPS to buy Chicago logistics firm for $1.8B

Company being acquired has helped out in holiday seasons.

UPS plans to buy freight brokerage firm Coyote Logistics for $1.8 billion, bringing under its own roof a business that has helped UPS add capacity during the peak holiday shipping season.

Chicago-based Coyote Logistics will operate as a subsidiary of UPS and will continue to be led by Coyote CEO Jeff Silver.

UPS, based in Sandy Springs, is buying Coyote from private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Coyote, founded in 2006, reported $2.1 billion in revenue in 2014. The deal is expected to close within 30 days, pending regulatory approvals and other conditions.

UPS, which said the deal is its largest acquisition, said it will bring opportunities to ex- pand in a high-growth market.

Coyote acts as a broker arranging freight shipments on available space aboard trucks, which are contracted to more than 35,000 trucking companies that are part of its carrier network.

The technology Coyote uses to connect trucking companies with customers is a “much more automated system than what UPS has been using” for full-truckload shipping, UPS spokesman Steve Gaut said. Coyote will also help fill some of the 7 million trucking legs annually that UPS operates empty, as a truck returns from its destination to reposition for the next trip.

Coyote has also played a “growing role” in supporting UPS during the peak holiday season, and that role will further expand during peak operations in the future.

“They’ll help us much more this year than they did in previous years” as UPS looks at peak demand and decides where to use contract carriers, Gaut said.