Carousel Capital announced today that it has successfully realized its investment in Armstrong Transport Group (“Armstrong” or “the Company”), a leading logistics platform that operates primarily through an independent agent network to connect commercial shippers with full truckload (FTL), heavy-haul, flatbed, temperature-controlled, and less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Quad-C Management, Inc. (“Quad-C”), a leading middle market private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in the Company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2006, Armstrong has established a differentiated freight brokerage platform by leveraging a service-first culture, entrepreneurial mindset, and technology-forward posture to serve all freight constituents.
“We are delighted about the opportunity to partner with a group that has a shared understanding of the Armstrong model and enthusiasm for our mission statement,” said Cameron Ramsdell, CEO of Armstrong. “We selected Quad-C because of their deep experience partnering with growth-oriented management teams in the transportation and logistics sector. Quad-C supports our continued vision of combining great people with technology to deliver an unmatched experience to our shipper and carrier partners.”
Carousel Capital initially partnered with Brian Mann and Graton Eason to recapitalize Armstrong in 2019, serving as the Company's first institutional capital investor. Ramsdell added, "On behalf of Armstrong, I would like to thank Carousel Capital, Brian Mann, and Graton Eason. We are extremely grateful for their partnership and their steadfast support of a disciplined growth strategy that has enabled Armstrong to consistently outperform the market and become one of the largest and fastest growing freight brokerages in North America."
Jason Schmidly, Managing Partner of Carousel Capital, said, "We are incredibly proud of what Cameron and his team have accomplished, and how this platform evolved from a first time institutionally backed business into one of the largest, most differentiated platforms within freight brokerage. We had an incredibly successful outcome because our team stayed steadfast in our commitment to growth, no matter the freight environment." Tyler Moses, Principal of Carousel Capital, added, "It has been a privilege to partner with the Armstrong team as the Company scaled its network by carefully managing our balance sheet and adding brokers and agents when others pulled back during the freight recession. Armstrong never stopped investing in people and technology and built a reputation for excellence across all key freight constituents.” Both added, “Armstrong is positioned to scale for many years to come, and Carousel Capital wishes the Company and Quad-C continued success."
Harris Williams and Citizens JMP Securities served as financial advisors, and K&L Gates LLP served as legal advisor to Armstrong.
