AIT Worldwide acquires customs broker Multimodal International

Freight forwarder AIT Worldwide Logistics has acquired the customs brokerage Multimodal International Ltd., which specializes in the automotive, machine tools, metals, electronics and chemical industries. Both companies are based in Illinois. [caption id="attachment_21658" align="alignright" width="450"] Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection[/caption] The acquisition will increase AIT Worldwide’s annual clearance entries to about 50,000 per year, for an increase of more than 10%, according to a press release on the acquisition, and grow the total number of licensed customs brokers at AIT to 14. Multimodal is “known for their deep industrial vertical knowledge, particularly in the automotive and chemical markets — two sectors where AIT is strategically expanding,” Ray Fennelly, AIT’s chief information officer, said in a statement. The company did not disclose the terms of the acquisition. AIT Worldwide was sold to private equity firm The Jordan Company by the former owner, PE firm Quad-C Management Inc., in a deal that closed in March. At the time, President and CEO Vaughn Moore told Air Cargo World that AIT Worldwide would use the recapitalization to continue its growth through its acquisition strategies and a greater focus on organic expansion of its existing operations. The freight forwarder has frequently used M&A as a strategy for quick expansion into new markets or capabilities, including customs brokerage, Moore previously told Air Cargo World . AIT acquired U.K.-based forwarder ConneXion in 2018 as a way to accommodate easier cross-border trade with the U.K. and Europe, to allow for integration of ConneXion’s U.K. customs expertise into AIT’s network. Other recent acquisitions by AIT include 2020’s Panther Logistics and Fiege Forwarding, and the 2019 acquisition of Los Angeles-based Unitrans International Corp.

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