XPO’s efforts to create a pure less-than-truckload business have been paused. (Photo: Jim Allen/Freight Waves)
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday after the market closed, XPO announced that it had withdrawn a divestment plan from its European transportation unit due to deterioration in capital markets.
“Due primarily to weak capital markets in Europe, the Company does not currently expect to divest its European business in the near term. The Company does not undertake to provide any further updates on the status of the Plan, except as may be required by applicable law.
Macroeconomic uncertainty and rising interest rates to combat inflation around the world have begun to dampen investors’ appetite for risk, hindering deal flow.
Exactly two years ago, XPO announced that it would spin off the transportation and logistics group it had amassed through the acquisitions of a variety of assets over the past decade. The goal was to create separate entities that were best in class and had higher valuation multiples.
As part of the spin-off, XPO spun off its contract logistics unit, now GXO (NYSE:GXO), in the summer of 2021. It sold its intermodal unit in March. Last month, it spun off RXO (NYSE: RXO), the nation’s fourth-largest trucking brokerage.
The final hurdle was to make XPO a stripped-down, non-truckload company by offloading the $3 billion European segment, which it previously said it would achieve through a sale or public listing on a European exchange.
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