Daseke Goes Public via Merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition
Don Daseke
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Don Daseke
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Flatbed fleet operator Daseke Inc. became a public company on Feb. 27 by completing its previously announced merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. II (NASDAQ: HCAC, HCACU, HCACW). The deal included HCAC changing its name to Daseke, Inc. The company expects that, effective Feb. 28, its common stock and warrants will begin trading under the ticker symbols “DSKE” and “DSKEW,” respectively, on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
Daseke calls itself “a leading consolidator of the highly fragmented $133-billion open deck freight market in North America.” Since it launched in 2009, the company has grown revenue both organically and through acquisitions from $30 million to more than $650 million (estimated) in 2016. That represents a compound annual growth rate of approximately 55%.
Daseke said it believes it is the largest owner of open deck equipment and the second largest provider of open deck transportation and logistics solutions by revenue in North America. Across its nine trucking companies, it fields approximately 3,000 tractors and 6,000 trailers. The company serves customers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico through more than 40 terminals across the U.S.
“Our vision from the start was to become a public company so we could have access to the capital markets in order to continue our focused consolidation strategy,” said Daseke Inc. Chairman and CEO Don Daseke. “We believe we have an acquisition pipeline that could enable us to double Daseke’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization over the next three years, and we believe this business combination positions us to meet our 2017 consolidation objectives.”
He pointed out that Daseke holds “less than a 1% share of this highly fragmented open deck freight market, and we believe we have a tremendous opportunity for future growth and continued market penetration.”
Daseke also advised that the merger supports the company’s approach …Read the rest of this story
