The CEO of less than truckload (LTL) trucking company Roadrunner Freight has joined with a partner to buy out a majority ownership interest in the Chicago-based company from its private equity owners.
Roadrunner CEO Chris Jamroz made the move through Prospero Staff Capital, a private equity vehicle that he co-leads with the investor Ted Kellner, buying the stake from Elliott Investment Management L.P.
Kellner, the founder and partner of Fiduciary Management Inc. with over $17 billion in assets under management, and currently CEO of T&M Partners and Chairman of Fiduciary Real Estate Development, is a long-term investor in Roadrunner. Prospero Staff Capital is part of LyonIX Holdings, Jamroz’ investment company with holdings in transportation and logistics, real estate, infrastructure, and cyber security.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but after it closes, Elliott will retain a minority stake in the company, remaining a long-term partner in Roadrunner's growth.
"After comprehensively unwinding the prior management's roll-up strategy to get to a pure-play LTL network, Roadrunner now stands as a premium long-haul carrier," Jamroz said in a release. "Today marks the beginning of our growth phase, driven by new capital, strategic investments, and acquisitions. We're committed to organic expansion, as well as pursuing focused and opportunistic M&A to strengthen our market position."
The move marks the latest chapter in a rocky road for the company, that was brought to its knees after an accounting scandal in 2018, then split itself into two parts in 2020, creating the LTL carrier Roadrunner Freight and the 3PL Ascent Global Logistics. Since then, the LTL unit took on outside investment funding of $50 million in 2021, and expanded operations by adding new lanes to its national LTL network earlier in 2024.
