In addition to endeavouring to be first with the biggest news on Trucknews.com, we also aim to delve beyond the press releases and provide some insight you won’t find elsewhere. This is particularly true of M&A activity, which is such an important topic today and going forward, as industry consolidation shows no signs of slowing. In the wake of TransForce’s $6.50/share bid on Vitran, we asked David Newman, director of institutional equity research, transportation and industrial products with Cormark Securities, what he had to say about the latest developments. David?

“Clearly, TransForce has line of sight on good synergies in terms of corporate costs, SG&A, elimination of public company costs and potential asset rationalization, as well as improved pricing,” David told us. “It could be an accretive deal for TransForce at these levels. The TransForce-Vitran combination is a good fit in terms of geography, customers and terminals, especially with Clarke, which was recently acquired by TransForce.”