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Supply Chain Deals

Supply Chain Deals Alerts

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A column chart that shows logistics M&A capital investment and deal count from 2014 to 2025. Capital invested peaked at $138.5 billion in 2025, rising sharply from $19.9 billion in 2014. Deal count ranges from 466 in 2014 to a high of 811 in 2022. Capital has soared in 2025 despite a drop in deals.

Logistics M&A capital investment, deal count

Logistics M&A deal values have soared despite a slipping deal count in 2025, per PitchBook.

Zoom in: So far in 2025, $138.5 billion worth of deals have been struck — more than the past three years put together.

Caveat: The numbers include Union Pacific's proposed $85 billion deal for rival railroad Norfolk Southern, alongside C.K. Hutchison's proposed $22.8 billion sale of its global ports business — both transactions which have yet to close.

By the numbers: There were 789 logistics deals in 2024, compared with 541 announced year-to-date.

What they're saying: "If the thesis is right, and the business model fits, it's a good time to look at larger logistics deals," Brown Gibbons Lang & Company managing director Craig Decker tells Axios Pro.

"The deals coming out are either fully baked, really large, or met every return requirement" from a private equity standpoint, he says.

State of play: Amid prolonged freight recession, strategics have been more willing to move on deals than their PE counterparts, Decker adds.

The two look for different features in the deals they ink, with sponsors typically first considering a business' potential returns, while strategics often eye new service lines, markets and customers.

In the PE world, "people are holding and waiting for the market to be more in their favor from a transport and logistics perspective," he says.

What we're watching: M&A activity typically heats up in Q4, as buyers and sellers face various pressures to close before year-end.

Go deeper: Supply chain M&A shifts "from volume into value"

Natalie Breymeyer contributed to this story.

Supply chain M&A shifts "from volume into value"

Logistics M&A value soars amid a handful of big-ticket deals

While the number will likely fall below 2024's 789, the tally of $138.5 billion is more than the past three years put together.

Illustration of a handshake graphic painted on a shipping container.

Logistics M&amp;A deal values have soared despite a slipping deal count in 2025, per PitchBook.Zoom in: So far in 2025, $138.5 billion worth of deals have been struck — more than the past three years put together.

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Logistics M&A value soars amid a handful of big-ticket deals

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