Daniel P. Bearth |
In a move to expand its e-commerce business in North America, Toronto-based Metro Supply Chain Group has acquired National Fulfillment Services, a long-time provider of order fulfillment software and distribution services in the United States.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Metro President Martin Graham said the acquisition is an important step in the build-out of the company’s business-to-consumer fulfillment business, which operates under the E24 brand in Canada.
“NFS has recently expanded its operations onto the West Coast of the U.S., and now, as part of the Metro family, we expect to see their service offering expanded to two Canadian centers within the year,” Graham stated in a statement Aug. 1.
National Fulfillment Services was started in the early 1970s by former Sperry Univac programmer Gene Krueger. Early clients included publishers such as McGraw Hill and TV Guide. The company now provides turnkey e-commerce fulfillment for a wide range of customers around the world.
“NFS was there at the genesis of systems-based fulfillment and grew up in step with that industry,” NFS President Tom Krueger explained. “We have built an array of solutions that encompass order management, including payment, customer call centers and comprehensive warehousing and distribution.”
Metro operates as a third-party logistics firm with a significant presence in consumer packaged goods, retail, automotive, fashion and e-commerce sectors. The company manages more than 11 million square feet of warehousing and co-pack centers and employs more than 5,000 people in the United States, Canada and Europe.
“Our business has always been about staying at the edge of innovation and providing a seamless and exceptional customer experience,” said Chiko Nanji, chairman and CEO of LDC Logistics Holdings, Metro’s parent company based in Montreal. “NFS strategically aligns with that mandate.”
Nanji formed LDC in 1974 to develop residential, commercial, hospitality and industrial real estate. Earlier this year, he consolidated his ownership of Metro by buying all of the stock he didn’t already own from Novacap, a private equity firm based in Longuevil, Quebec.
“The transaction reflects confidence in our plans to increase Metro SCG’s market position in North America and Europe,” Nanji said in a statement announcing the stock purchase on Feb. 2.
In 2016, Metro SCG purchased Evolution Time Critical, a firm that specializes in automotive logistics and transportation services with operations in the United Kingdom and Germany. Evolution Time Critical has since opened an office in Atlanta.