an acquisitive nature

Consumers aren't the only ones out there spending up a storm these days. Two companies that serve the distribution logistics market—supply chain execution solution provider Optum and third-party logistics service provider Ozburn- Hessey—have been on a buying binge of their own.

Optum, armed with about $54 million from a half dozen venture capital partners, acquired Fremont, Calif.-based WorldChain Inc.—its second acquisition in less than six months. The purchase of WorldChain, a supply chain execution firm specializing in network transactions management, realtime visibility and exception resolution, follows the purchase of V3 Systems in February. The purchase price was not revealed in either acquisition.

Ozburn-Hessey Logistics (OHL), which provides third-party logistics (3PL) and supply chain services, has acquired Illinois-based Lanter Logistics and Lanter Refrigerated Distributing. With the acquisition, the company controls 17 million square feet of warehouse space in 20 states, making it the eighth largest domestic 3PL.

The Lanter acquisition represents the second such transaction for OHL in the past two years. The company purchased Chicago-based Sterling Logistics Corp. in 2002.