R² Freight & Logistics, Inc., a provider of intermodal, truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL) and flatbed freight services, has acquired the transportation services division of Integrated Distribution Services, Inc. (IDS) in a management buyout. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The division, which operated as IDS Transportation Services, began serving customers in 2003, and will be rebranded as R². The acquisition does not include IDS Fulfillment, which operates more than 1 million square feet of warehouse space focused on the ecommerce market. IDS is listed as a Top 3PL provider in Multichannel Merchant’s 2016 list.
“IDS Transportation achieved its full vision under the IDS structure and it was time to expand upon the vision to bring to market other freight solutions with the same over-the-top customer experience shippers have come to expect from us,” said Rick LaGore, CEO of R².
LaGore said he and Shelli Austin, shareholders in IDS Corp., bought out the primary owner and a partner in IDS Transportation Services, LLC, which they had founded. IDS was founded 50 years ago.
“Shelli and I felt this was a great platform for us to build upon by opening up our scope of services and through additional acquisitions, as domestic intermodal is the hardest of all the freight modes to get an inroad and we have intermodal well established,” LaGore said. “IDS brings one of the best brands in the space, which we feel we can build on with additional services.”
Mike O’Brien is Senior Editor of Multichannel Merchant