Omnitracs to buy XRS for $178 million

Trucking telematics provider Omnitracs, LLC, is planning to acquire rival XRS Corp for $5.60 per share of XRS stock, which equates to $178 million in equity value. The deal is expected to be wrapped up by the fourth quarter this year.

Christian Schneck, formerly senior vp-product strategy & market growth for XRS and now president of technology consulting firm CLS LLC, told FleetOwner  that the acquisition is indicative of a broader “consolidation” trend within the telematics/fleet management system market, which should continue this year and into next as the industry “gears up” for the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate expected to go into effect sometime in 2015.

John Graham, CEO of Omnitracs, noted in a statement that the acquisition of XRS will help expand the Omnitracs “portfolio” into delivering transportation management solutions via mobile devices and thus is a “great addition to our suite of offerings.”

That, said Schenk, is XRS’ strongest asset.

“My opinion is the mobile strategy that XRS has would enable smaller fleets and O/O to buy without the need for large capital investment,” he said.

The acquisition of XRS is the latest in a string of industry moves by Omnitracs. The company itself was acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $800 million last November and then also subsequently bought out routing and scheduling provider Roadnet Technologies at the end of 2013.

Omnitracs also put in place a new executive team – including a new president and COO, chief technology officer, and VP of sales – back in July as well.

Finally, the company is planning to relocate its headquarters from San Diego, CA, to Dallas TX, by the first quarter of 2015.