Celadon to acquire Canadian trucking, rail firm

Indianapolis-based trucking firm Celadon Group Inc. has agreed to acquire a road and rail service provider in Saskatchewan intended to help broaden its footprint in Canada.

Celadon announced the deal on Monday with N. Yanke Transfer Ltd., which posted revenue of $90 million in 2012. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yanke carries goods in Canada, and between Canada and the United States. The acquisition gives Celadon a foothold in the container-rail business in Canada, which accounted for $30 million of Yanke’s 2012 revenue.

Paired with its existing intermodal revenue in the United States, Celadon now expects to generate $60 million in annual revenue from rail shipments in North America.

"We believe this acquisition offers solid potential to expand our domestic Canada footprint, both over the road and utilizing the rail, to advance our overall service offering growth plans,” said Celadon CEO Paul Will in a prepared release.

Celadon anticipated having more than 800 drivers in its Canadian operations upon conclusion of the transaction, making the company one of the country’s largest carriers.

Russell Marcoux, president and CEO of Yanke, told employees he was retiring from the business.

“The time has come for me to move on, and in keeping with the culture and values we created together at Yanke, it is important to me that the torch gets passed on to an organization that shares many of the same values and beliefs,” Marcoux said, according to industry publication Transport Topics.

Shares of Celadon were up 3.5 percent, to $20.36, in mid-morning trading on Monday.