Swift and Knight Transportation to merge into $5B company

Once the deal closes, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will be the largest truckload operator in North American. Swift shareholders will own 54 percent, while Knight will own 46 percent.

Source Wall Street Journal, Reuters

Vesna Brajkovic

April 10, 2017

Two phoenix-based trucking and logistics operators, Swift Transportation Co. and Knight Transportation Inc., are merging into one company with a market value of $5 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Once the deal closes, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. will be the largest truckload operator in North American. Swift shareholders will own 54 percent, while Knight will own 46 percent.

Swift was started in 1966 by Jerry Moyers along with Randy Knight, who later founder Knight Transportation in 1990.

"Effectively, this deal represents the pupil acquiring the teacher's company and will give the Knight team control of the new entity," wrote Joh Larkin, Stifel Transportation & Logistics Research Group analyst, in a note, according to Reuters.

About the Author

Vesna Brajkovic

Associate Editor - Vehicle Repair Group

Vesna Brajkovic is associate editor for the Vehicle Repair Group.

Brajkovic has covered the transportation industry for a number of trade publications, with a focus on the vehicle maintenance and automotive aftermarket industries since 2016. Prior to that, she covered the global aviation industry as assistant editor for Endeavor Business Media's AviationPros.com, and held a number of editorial positions at an award-winning community newspaper.