Order-fulfillment firm sells for $55M in cash

A publicly traded e-commerce firm has paid $55 million in cash for Indianapolis-based Fifth Gear, a company with more than 500 employees that specializes in fulfilling consumer orders through catalogs and digital retail.

Dallas-based Speed Commerce Inc. reported the acquisition to federal regulators late last month. The deal also includes a contingency payment of common stock based on Fifth Gear’s financial performance for all of 2014.

Fifth Gear’s headquarters is at 9100 Purdue Road on the northwest side of Indianapolis, but it also operates fulfillment and customer contact centers in Missouri and Pennsylvania. The firm has more than 500 employees, according to its website, and in its latest fiscal year posted revenue of more than $50 million.

Fifth Gear’s clients include Burger King, Lens.com, Smithsonian Institute, Zeeberry.com, and the pet-specialty companies Dog.com, Horse.com and Petbox.

Representatives for Fifth Gear and Speed Commerce were not immediately available for comment Tuesday morning. Fifth Gear has been operating for more than 30 years, according to its website.

“Becoming a part of Speed Commerce represents an important strategic step in our go-to-market offering,” Al Langsenkamp, chairman and CEO of Fifth Gear, said in a prepared release.

“We believe that Speed’s fully integrated e-commerce services platform, combined with Fifth Gear’s unique capabilities, will allow our combined company to better serve clients and help them deliver a more seamless online shopping experience,” Langsenkamp said.

Speed Commerce trades on the NASDAQ exchange. Its shares have declined 38 percent so far in 2014, and were trading at $2.89 late Tuesday morning.

Fifth Gear CFO Don Van der Wiel was among the honorees for IBJ's 2013 CFO of the Year program.