Bankrupt U.S. Freight-Payment Provider’s Assets Sold to Belgian Company
Buyer pledges ‘seamless service’ after abrupt bankruptcy filing stuns major shipping customers
Three bankruptcies among freight-payments processors in recent years is making some shippers wary of using such companies. PHOTO:SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
A Belgian freight-payment services company is buying the assets of bankrupt U.S. rival IPS Worldwide LLC for $2.3 million.
Europe Management SPRL, which through its EM6 Logistics brand offers freight payables audit and payment services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, purchased IPS’s assets and world-wide operations following a court auction last month in Orlando, Fla. The sale closed Monday, EM6 Logistics Chief Executive Suresh Sainanee said Tuesday.
Ormond Beach, Fla.-based IPS filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January owing more than $100 million to creditors. IPS provides services such as invoicing and payments to shipping companies, acting as a middleman for customers that at the time of the filing included Stanley Black & Decker Inc., Alcoa Corp. and Arconic Inc.
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The asset sale will extend EM6 Logistics’s reach in the U.S., where the company previously had two clients.
EM6 will take over IPS’s remaining contracts and maintain “all the vendors so the services are not disrupted,” Mr. Sainanee said. “Our main priority today is to provide seamless service” for IPS’s roughly 30 U.S. customers and for its clients in Europe and Asia.
In a rare step, IPS was placed under an outside trustee’s control in April by a federal bankruptcy judge who cited reports suggesting gross mismanagement and incompetence by top executives. One of those reports said IPS was a viable business but that its leadership lacked “sufficient knowledge to lead day-to-day operations effectively.”
The company is the third freight-payments processor to become insolvent in recent years, making some shippers wary of using such companies. TransVantage Solutions Inc. and Trendset Inc., which provided similar services, both filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
Write to Jennifer Smith at jennifer.smith@wsj.com
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