- Echo Global Logistics (NASDAQ:ECHO) is getting back into the M&A market after holding off on major deals for more than a year, as CEO Doug Waggoner tells WSJ the freight broker is now looking at smaller deals to “supplement what we do."
- “There are a lot of smaller players that don’t have the scale and don’t have the technology and they’re starting to realize that now is a good time to combine with somebody larger,” Waggoner says.
- Echo is most interested in bulking up its core transportation management services, which secures truck space for manufacturers and retailers, but could look outside its core business “if the right opportunity came along,” the CEO says.
- Various industry measures show shipping demand has been lagging behind 2015 volumes, and plentiful truck capacity has dragged down prices, cutting into revenues for freight brokers and putting financial pressure on smaller operators.