Forward Air’s January update excludes status of Omni’s leadership team
Forward Air provided January volume trends on Monday, its first update following a controversial merger with Omni Logistics. It appears the combined company may not include several executives from Omni.
FreightWaves has learned some members of Omni’s senior leadership team separated from Forward shortly after Omni CEO JJ Schickel had “chosen not to continue as an executive at Forward.”
“One important goal of the integration process is to ensure we have the best organizational structure and right leadership team in place in order to achieve our shared ambitions,” a spokesperson from Forward told Freighwaves. “That inevitably means there will be some changes. For those who will not be continuing on the next leg of Forward’s journey, we are grateful for their contributions and wish them well as they pursue other opportunities.”
The statement said given the scale of the transaction, “those details will take time to work through” and it is “committed to keeping our team informed as we make important decisions about our company’s bright future.”
Omni’s executives, including Schickel, were still displayed on Omni’s website on Monday.
Forward (NASDAQ: FWRD) previously said it plans to provide more details on financial targets, the management team and board composition on its fourth-quarter call scheduled for Feb. 22. Analysts will likely have questions regarding the integration of Omni now that some of the individuals that ran the company’s daily operations are no longer there.
The merger was announced on Aug. 10 at a $3.2 billion purchase price with closing to occur a few weeks later. However, a group of shareholders filed for injunctive relief in September, claiming they should have been allowed to vote on the transaction. That briefly delayed the closing. Other investors also chimed in voicing concerns, seemingly making Forward’s board and management team rethink the business combination.
Among complaints from shareholders were the high debt load required to buy Omni and a perceived change in control of the company as Omni and its private equity backers would hold more than one-third of the equity, four board seats and Schickel would become president.
Omni filed suit to force Forward to the closing table at the end of October. However, before opening arguments were heard last month in a Delaware court, the parties came to terms.
In the end, the transaction closed five months after it was announced and at a roughly $2.1 billion price tag. The cash portion of the deal was reduced from $150 million to $20 million and the equity stake declined from 37.7% to 35%. A big difference in the closing price, however, was a more than 55% decline in Forward’s share price since the deal was inked.
Source: freightwaves.com
