Pilot Freight Services Teams with ATL Partners and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation to Fund Investments in New Services and Technologies to Propel Growth
LIMA, PA – October 26, 2016 – Pilot Freight Services announced today that it has secured a controlling investment from ATL Partners (“ATL”), a leading aerospace, transportation, and logistics-focused private equity firm, and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (“bcIMC”), one of Canada’s largest institutional investors. The Phillips family, current owners of Pilot Freight Services, will maintain a significant equity stake, and Richard G. Phillips will remain as Chief Executive Officer.
Founded in 1970 with headquarters in Lima, Pennsylvania, Pilot is a leading provider of transportation and logistics service offerings worldwide. Pilot provides expedited and time-definite domestic and international freight forwarding, e-commerce and home delivery, and value-added logistics services to its customer base through a network of over 75 stations in North America and Western Europe and 87 core international partners.
“With our employees leading the way, Pilot has achieved significant growth over the past forty-five years in an ever-changing logistics environment. As we pursue increasingly sophisticated opportunities, the Phillips family believes it is important for Pilot to work with experienced partners who can help us to continue to evolve and innovate in order to remain a best-in-class service provider to our customers,” said Pilot Chief Executive Officer Mr. Phillips. “We are very excited that ATL Partners and bcIMC will be partnering with Pilot to help us continue to execute our ambitious growth plans.”
“ATL has been an admirer of Pilot’s successes for some time and we are excited to be partnering with Mr. Phillips and the Pilot team,” said Frank Nash, Chief Executive Officer of ATL. “As a sector focused fund, ATL invests in businesses within transportation and logistics that are well positioned to benefit from key secular trends driving growth in this sector.”
“bcIMC is a long-term investor and this investment is consistent with our approach to partner with industry leading companies and experienced management teams who have the capability to scale investments over time,” said Jim Pittman, Senior Vice President, Private Equity for bcIMC. “We look forward to supporting Pilot’s management team as they pursue their growth plans, aligning with our mandate to create long-term wealth for our pension plan and accident fund clients, while also protecting the value of their funds.”
About Pilot Freight Services
Pilot Freight Services, LLC is a full-service transportation and logistics provider with over 75 locations throughout North America and Western Europe. The company’s freight forwarding services encompass every mode of transportation, including air, ground and ocean, serving all corners of the globe. Pilot’s logistics programs offer a complete line of expedited and time-definite services, international shipping solutions, e-commerce and home delivery solutions, product warehousing and inventory management. In addition, Pilot’s online shipment navigator, CoPilot, makes online shipping fast, convenient and secure. Learn more about Pilot Freight Services at www.PilotDelivers.com
About ATL Partners
The Aerospace, Transportation and Logistics Fund (“ATL Partners”) was formed in 2014 to make private equity and certain preferred securities or debt investments in the aerospace, transportation and logistics sectors principally in North America with a target equity investment range of $150 million to $750 million through a co-investment arrangement with a major limited partner. ATL investment professionals and the members of its executive board, all of whom are accomplished senior executives in ATL's focus sectors, have been investing in these sectors for decades and are well positioned to partner with management teams to drive value creation by identifying and implementing innovative growth initiatives. For more information about ATL Partners, visit www.atlpartners.com.
About bcIMC
With C$121.9 billion of managed net assets, the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC) is one of Canada’s largest institutional investors within the global capital markets. Based in Victoria, British Columbia, bcIMC is a long-term investor that invests in all major asset classes including private equity. bcIMC’s clients include public sector pension plans, public trusts, and insurance funds.
