A&R Logistics Acquires Blue Water Plastic Transport

Acquisition increases A&R’s asset fleet and expands its presence in the Midwestern U.S.

Wind Point Partners and portfolio company A&R Logistics are pleased to announce that A&R has acquired Blue Water Plastic Transport, LLC (“BWP”). BWP, founded in 1988 and headquartered in St. Clair, MI, provides specialty bulk transportation and logistics services to the plastics industry. 

The acquisition of BWP further expands A&R’s geographic presence in the Midwestern U.S. and increases A&R’s overall transportation capacity with additional tractors and specialty trailers. Mostly servicing Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio, BWP provides specialty dry bulk transportation, warehousing, and logistics services primarily related to plastic resin across a diverse customer base which includes plastics manufacturers, distributors, and recyclers. 

Mark Holden, A&R CEO, expressed, “On behalf of the entire A&R team, I am happy to welcome the BWP team into the A&R family. Both companies share common customer bases, but more importantly common values and cultures, and we are thrilled about the combination. We believe BWP and A&R customers will benefit from our combined organization and look forward to serving our customers with the future opportunities this acquisition creates.”

Konrad Salaber, Managing Director with Wind Point Partners, stated, “BWP is a great strategic acquisition for A&R as it increases both the Company’s tractor fleet and its density in the Midwest.  We’re excited to have closed the first of what we hope is several acquisitions with Mark and the A&R team.”

The acquisition of BWP continues Wind Point’s long history of supporting its portfolio companies with additional capital for growth and marks A&R’s first acquisition as the Company seeks to diversify its service offering and geographic presence to better serve its customers.

Wind Point Partners acquired A&R in May of 2019 in partnership with Mark Holden, a more than 25-year veteran of the transportation and logistics industry. In cooperation with Mark and A&R management, Wind Point will seek to continue expanding the A&R platform through a combination of organic growth and complementary acquisitions like BWP. The Wind Point investment team has considerable experience in logistics and route-based transportation services with select prior investments including Dicom Transportation, St. George Logistics, Valicor Environmental Services, RailWorks, and AIR-serv.

Antares Capital, Bain Capital, First Eagle Investment Management, and Varagon Capital led the debt financing for the transaction. Faegre Baker Daniels LLP served as legal counsel to A&R.

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