ACI Capital News
News
2008
ACI Capital Announces the Formation of Unified Logistics and the Acquisitions of Benchmark Logistics and Silk Road Transport

NEW YORK, August 7, 2008 — ACI Capital, a New York-based private equity investment firm announced the formation of Unified Logistics Holdings, LLC and its acquisitions of Benchmark Logistics and Silk Road Transport. Unified Logistics, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is led by Geoffrey Davis, an experienced logistics industry executive formerly with ES3, Penske and TNT. Benchmark provides time-critical and over-dimensional transportation services to oil and gas industry customers, including drilling, exploration and production, service and rig companies. Silk Road is the leading transporter of mass transit transportation vehicles in North America with a growing presence in delivering wind power equipment.

Unified Logistics is a specialized logistics company focused primarily on the handling, transport and delivery of hard-to-deliver freight, particularly highly urgent and/or over-dimensional (extraordinarily large) freight.In addition, Unified Logistics will serve as a platform for acquiring additional value-added, highly specialized logistics service providers, both domestically and internationally.

Regarding the investment by ACI Capital, Geoff Davis commented, “We are excited about our partnership with ACI Capital and look forward to building Unified into the premier logistics provider of urgent and over-dimensional freight.With ACI Capital’s relationships, investment experience and capital for growth, we expect to develop Unified into a leading logistics company.” Mr. Davis additionally commented that “Benchmark and Silk Road represent two industry leaders in their respective specialties. Unified looks forward to assisting the existing management teams in expanding each company’s service reach.”

Jane Karlsten, a co-founder of Silk Road, remarked, “We are very excited to bring on Unified and ACI Capital as partners to help us grow this business. Geoff Davis and his team at Unified bring a wealth of logistics industry experience and will provide us with the resources necessary to continue the growth of our company. ACI Capital has a proven record of successfully growing middle-market businesses, and I am confident they can also make a positive impact at Silk Road.”

“We are delighted to invest with Geoff and his Unified Logistics team and to become partners with the managers who founded each of Silk Road and Benchmark,” said Hunter Reisner, Managing Director of ACI Capital. “This transaction typifies our strategy of investing in growth-oriented companies that have leading market positions, excellent relationships and reputations with their customers and strong, knowledgeable management teams. In addition, ACI Capital has a long history of partnering with entrepreneurs to help them grow their companies. We are focused on working with Geoff and his team to build Unified Logistics, growing the Benchmark and Silk Road businesses as well as acquiring and unifying other premier specialized logistics providers.”

About Unified Logistics:
Unified Logistics is an acquisition company focused on highly specialized logistics services. Core to our value proposition is the combination of a battle-tested management team and the domain expertise to develop proprietary, engineered processes that drive differentiated value to our customers and shareholders. Our first two investments are in Silk Road Transport (www.silkroadtrans.com) and Benchmark Logistics (www.benchmark-logistics.com). We are seeking additional domestic and international providers of specialized logistics services that meet our criteria and share a common vision in creating a great company that is based on people, their expert acumen and our ability to deliver the highest value services with superior customer satisfaction. For more information, please visit www.unifiedlogistics.com.

About ACI Capital:
ACI Capital has a 50-year history of successfully investing in middle-market companies, and is currently investing from a $335 million fund raised in 2006. As ACI Capital takes a long-term view, the firm is willing to invest through a business cycle. Additionally, ACI Capital will pursue unusual or challenging situations that require particular creativity, flexibility or insight. While ACI Capital does not limit its investments by size or industry, it typically makes control investments in North American companies, private and public, with enterprise values of $50 - $300+ million. ACI Capital focuses on companies in the business services, consumer, healthy living and manufacturing sectors. For more information, please visit www.acicapital.com.


[Back]

ACI Capital 666 Third Avenue 29th Floor New York, NY 10017 T. 212-634-3333 F. 212-634-3330 Download Brochure
Penn Design Group