It’s no coincidence that large-scale trucking mergers and acquisitions accelerate toward the end of the year.
Hub Group acquired Forward Air’s last-mile business and TFI International trumpeted its Daseke acquisition within a week of Christmas last year. Schneider National announced its purchase of Cowan Systems in the days before this Thanksgiving.
Buyers and sellers can have any number of reasons to announce or close a deal before the holidays.
Big deals often carry serious tax implications, a key reason parties often want to move forward from negotiations with deals finalized in a new year, said Spencer Tenney, President and CEO of the Tenney Group, a trucking M&A advisory firm.
The Tenney Group’s business is a testament to the Q4 hustle, historically doing about 60% of its transaction work between September and December, he said.
Practical considerations come into play: Many large companies have annual M&A budgets, and it’s easier to compare full-year earnings before and after a deal and integration.
On a more sentimental note, many sellers have a year in mind when they want to retire or turn to a new chapter in their career.
“They say, ‘I don't want to start the following year owning this business again,’” Tenney said.
A takeaway for carrier executives pushing to make M&A moves before the end of 2024? Legal, accounting and other resources of companies on both ends of the negotiating table tend to get stretched tremendously amid pressure to complete deals during the final 60 days of the year.
“It's really important to be thinking about that as buyers and sellers, to make sure that you get the right resources around the deal, and don't wait till last minute,” Tenney said.
