Nic Kyrzakos
- Sector
- Transport & Warehousing
- Size
- £3.0m EBITDA
- Advisory
- Buy-Side
- Debt Advisory
Background
- Former CFO and CEO of DHL, DAMCO & UPS, Nic recently scaled and exited 2,000 vehicle African carrier J&J Transport for global PE leader, Carlyle Group
- Nic led the growth and exit of that $100m investment, culminating in a disposal for over $300m 6 years later which provided Carlyle & Investec a 3x return
- Independence received direct enquiry from Nic, having seen our work in the sector and interested to have us support him develop a new US-UK-EU logistics group built up from acquiring performing owner-managed operators.
Process & outcome
- We ran a proactive origination strategy across the UK spanning logistics, freight forwarding, warehousing and value-add services.
- Covid proved a significant disruption to the logistics sector, with many priority targets requiring to load-up heavily on govt sponsored debt in order to maintain services. This restricted the short-medium term buying pool but we found an array of well fitting targets which we then worked with Nic and his US/Canadian operations team to land
- White Transport was a first generation transport & warehousing provider serving businesses nationally from a single site in Gloucester with scope to develop.
- Independence supported in the acquisition of that business and the arrangement of facilities to underpin that acquisition and future deals.
- The group has gone on to acquire two more businesses in the UK, bolt-ons of RGF Logistics and Bleach of Lavant and trades at >£50m Pro-forma Rev / £6m EBITDA
“Having worked with traditional private equity, I could easily relate to Independence’s differentiated offering. I have been extremely impressed by the quality of off-market targets delivered and the depth of support available in structuring, strategy and funding. I am excited to see what we can achieve together in the years ahead”
