BREAKING NEWS: Mullen buys Kleysen family fleet; becomes 2nd-largest carrier

ALDERSYDE, Alta. — The mullen Group continues to grow rapidly as it announced its fourth major acquisition over the last year.

The Mullen Group says it will buy the family fleet of Kleysen Investments based in Winnipeg. If the deal is officially approved later this month, Mullen will pass Vitran to become Canada’s second-largest truck freight carrier.

Kleysen brings to Mullen 250 tractors, 526 trailers and 518 containers. With a total of just under 8,000 power units across its operations, Mullen is still 4,000 units shy of TransForce, Canada’s largest trucking company.

Kleysen, which has been in the hauling business since 1935, is a diversified western carrier and logistics firm which specializes in bulk, flatdeck, multi-commodity transload, and intermodal services.

“We are pleased to add Kleysen to our growing organization. Having been in business for over 70 years they have built an exceptional reputation for providing outstanding service to their customers and have been a good competitor to Mullen over the years,” said Stephen Lockwood, president and Co-CEO of Mullen, in a statement.

Lockwood said he looks forward to a smooth integration of Kleysen. He expects Kleysen will continue to grow its business and expand on its prior year’s revenue of about $100 million.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of this month.

Kleysen is the latest in a series of fleet acquisitions by Mullen over the last 15 months. In February, Mullen and Producers Oilfield Services (a oilfield logistics business Mullen created in 2001 and later spun-off) announced a merger agreement worth close to $1 billion. The deal boosted Mullen’s total fleet size to about 6,400 tractors and trailers, making the carrier the third largest in Canada, behind TransForce and Vitran.

Prior to that agreement, Producers acquired Swanberg Bros., which, with 144 tractors and 291 trailers, is one of the largest transporters of drilling rigs in Western Canada.

Beyond half-a-dozen other acquisitions of smaller, medium-sized fleets dating back to early 2005, Mullen also bought all outstanding shares of Winnipeg-based van and flatbed carrier Payne Transportation in the summer of 2005.

Mullen also announced that it intends to release its first quarter financials since the Producers merger for the period January 1, 2006 to March 31, 2006.