TFI International acquired Canada-based specialty truckload carrier MJ Lavoie, TFI announced in a LinkedIn post Monday.
The carrier, founded in 1992, specializes in hauling compostable and recyclable materials and in residential waste management. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The marriage might not last long. TFI’s latest M&A deal further bulks up its truckload holdings in advance of an anticipated spin-off of Daseke, which it acquired in April, as well its other TL businesses.
Aside from smaller tuck-ins like MJ Lavoie, TFI does not plan to execute any large M&A deals this year as it digests the Daseke acquisition, Chairman, President and CEO Alain Bédard said during a Q1 earnings call.
“Tuck-ins, yes, in Canada [are] easy to do, but nothing major except the Daseke transaction,” Bédard said.
The freight giant is instead focused on reducing its debt by between $500 million to $600 million, the CEO said.
But Bédard teased deals like MJ Lavoie when he said TFI wouldn’t hesitate to scoop up some small, niche truckload carriers who are “dying right now” in a stubbornly soft freight market.
“So there's opportunity maybe to beef up a little bit our truckload division by doing a little bit of small M&As here and there,” he said.
