Covenant Transportation Group completes acquisition of Landair

It was announced on Thursday morning that Covenant Transportation Group has completed its acquisition of Landair Holdings, Inc.

Under the terms of the agreement, CTG purchased all of Landair’s outstanding stock in exchange for approximately $83 million in cash. Landair was founded in 1981 by Scott Niswonger and Ed Sayler. Presently, Landair operates approximately 430 trucks and 900 trailers and manages 12 distribution facilities covering about 1.8 million square feet of warehouse space.

“Today is the start of the next chapter in the Landair story,” Niswonger said in a statement. “We are blessed to have identified a strategic buyer that was founded on faith-based principles and is committed to continued investment in our business and people.”

As for the ramifications of the deal, Landair president John Tweed will continue to lead the company, and CTG expects to maintain Landair’s Greeneville headquarters. CTG said Landair’s employees and customers should notice little change moving forward.

“I am excited about this combination because it will give Landair and its customers access to, and the benefit of, the comprehensive resources of CTG,” Tweed said. “Continued growth at the pace we are experiencing requires access to the resources and support of a strong partner like CTG. The alignment in company cultures should enable a smooth integration of the two well-respected organizations.”

Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. is the holding company for several transportation providers that offer premium transportation services for customers throughout the United States. The consolidated group includes operations from Covenant Transport and Covenant Transport Solutions of Chattanooga, Southern Refrigerated Transport of Texarkana, Arkansas and Star Transportation of Nashville. In addition, Transport Enterprise Leasing, of Chattanooga is an integral affiliated company providing revenue equipment sales and leasing services to the trucking industry.

“We pursued Landair because of their proven record of growth and profitability in the dedicated and 3PL markets, their talented management team led by John Tweed, and the quality and integrity of their culture represented by their co-founder, Scott Niswonger,” said CGT’s Chairman and CEO David R. Parker. “Landair is a perfect fit with our strategy to grow in areas where we can get closer and more heavily integrated with customers. We believe the backing of CTG will provide additional resources to expand Landair’s dedicated truckload operations to best meet the needs of its strong customer base, as well as improve profit margins through identified cost synergies.”