Tom Hicks to take part in $730m logistics deal

Dallas, Texas-based Hicks Holdings and Bahrain-based Investcorp have agreed to buy a “substantial portion” of Greatwide Logistics Services, a third-party transportation and logistics company also based in Dallas, from New York and Los Angeles based Fenway Partners for $730 million (€593.7 million), Greatwide said in a statement.

The actual percentage of the company to be sold was not disclosed.

Thomas Hicks, Hicks Holdings

Hicks Holdings is a family investment vehicle of Thomas Hicks, the co-founder of the firm formerly called Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, with which Hicks is no longer affiliated.

Following the completion of the transaction, which is expected to close before the end of the year, Investcorp will be Greatwide’s majority shareholder, owning 65 to 80 percent of the company, said a source to the deal. Fenway will maintain a minority investment—5 to 10 percent of its original purchase—and Hicks Holdings will be a “significant investor” with a 15 to 25 percent stake in the company, the source said. The specific holdings percentages will be established upon the closing of the deal.

 

Fenway acquired 60 percent of Greatwide (then known as Transportation Industries) for an undisclosed amount in 2000. According to a source close to the deal, Fenway is making four times its original investment in the current sale.

Fenway added to its sporting goods platform when it acquired baseball bat and hockey stick maker Easton Sports for $400 million in February. The following month, the firm set a $1 billion cap for its third fund.

This transaction marks yet another deal in which Thomas Hicks has continued to invest in the same space as Hicks Muse. Hicks retired from Hicks Muse, now known as HM Capital Partners, on December 31, 2004. He began investing with his own family fortune under Hicks Holdings in January of 2005. Hicks Holdings made its first investment later that year when it bought Ocular LCD, a manufacturer of liquid crystal displays used in mobile phones and other technology.

The corporation’s other holdings include DirecPath, a provider of DIRECTV programming, broadband voice and data services and security and Grupo Pilar, a leading animal and pet food company in Argentina. Hicks Holdings launched a real estate joint venture with Gatehouse Capital, a Dallas-based real estate developer, to develop high-end hotels and residential real-estate projects in Texas, California and other US regions in January.

Investcorp, which manages approximately $10 billion of assets in the private equity, venture capital, real estate and hedge fund sectors, made a big move of its own just yesterday. The firm completed a placement of $420 million global depository receipts on the London Stock Exchange at an offer price of $29 per receipt.