Sun Capital Partners, Inc (Sun Capital), a private investment firm focused on defensible businesses in growing markets with tangible performance improvement opportunities, has announced that its affiliate has completed the acquisition of Century Distribution Systems, a global digital logistics provider offering supply chain management and freight forwarding services. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1969, Century leverages its proprietary technology platform to perform mission critical supply chain services, including SKU-level purchase order management, document management and compliance services, vendor and carrier management, visibility management and consolidated shipment optimization of less-than-containerload freight. Century partners with its customers to solve challenging logistics requirements and offers solutions that enable shippers to exercise greater control over increasingly complex supply chains while optimising customers’ freight and logistics spend.
“Century fits nicely in our sweet spot, as a defensible business that provides a critical service to retailers and manufacturers, and it aligns well with our operational focus and extensive experience with corporate carve-outs,” says Marc Leder, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Sun Capital. “The Company’s long track record of reliable execution, knowledge of industry dynamics and customs, strong infrastructure and blue-chip client base are all great strategic advantages.”
The USD84 billion global ocean freight forwarding market expanded by 3 per cent annually from 2010 through 2020 and is projected to accelerate to 4 per cent through 2024, driven largely by growth in worldwide e-commerce. Century’s origin supply chain management service provides a critical link in this growing market.
“We look forward to leveraging our operational and corporate carve-out expertise to drive performance across the organisation in a number of key areas,” adds Jordan Wadsworth, Managing Director, Sun Capital. “We also see an opportunity to take advantage of strategic add-on acquisitions that can broaden Century’s existing capabilities.”
Sun Capital is an experienced buyer of corporate carve-outs, completing more than 60 carve-out transactions with leading companies and creating successful standalone businesses including Aclara, Unico Technologies Group, Critical Flow Solutions, Elix Polymers, and WesCom Signal & Rescue.
