by Marty Cook –
It didn’t much convincing for three former USA Truck Inc. executives to decide to acquire the Van Buren trucking company from Danish global logistics giant DSV.
Former company CEO James Reed, former logistics division head George Henry and former CFO Zack King agreed to buy USA Truck in a deal announced Friday. DSV had made it clear in 2025 that it was not interested in keeping the subsidiary after it had acquired the German logistics company DB Schenker for $16 billion in late 2024.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the new ownership group said it was an all-cash purchase and a deal too good to pass up.
“When we looked at the metrics, the metrics are phenomenal. Better, frankly, than at any time when the company was public,” Reed said. “So that’s super encouraging.”
After the original sale, Henry had stayed to run USA Truck, which DB Schenker had renamed as US Land Transport, as vice president. DB Schenker had purchased USA Truck for $435 million in 2022 to use as a trucking foothold in the United States; DSV was not interested in having an asset-based subsidiary.
Henry said when it was understood that USA Truck was going to be sold, he began to rebrand the company back to USA Truck from US Land Transport. He said the brand identity was a major asset for USA Truck.
“It’s USA truck; our logo we share with the armed forces that protect this country and the liberties that we will get to enjoy,” Henry said. “It is a company that was formed in Arkansas, which is, again, I have a bias, the greatest trucking state in the nation. It’s just a very exciting time, not just us, but for the industry.
“Frankly, when there are so many trucking companies that are shutting doors, putting people out of work, putting drivers on the road, for us to have the ability to take this one and swim against the stream of what’s occurring, it’s not just great for us. It’s not just great for our employees. It is great for the industry, because it tells other people they can do it as well.”
An Easy Decision
It took longer for Reed to work out selling USA Truck to DB Schenker in 2022 than it did for him to buy it back.
Reed led the company as CEO from January 2017 until shortly after DB Schenker completed the acquisition in September 2022. Reed, who is operating partner at the private equity firm Banner Capital in Salt Lake City, never moved from Van Buren after leaving USA Truck.
When he heard USA Truck was going on the market, Reed said Henry called to work out the deal, while Henry said Reed was the one who called. Either way, the two quickly agreed it was a deal they needed to do, and brought King on board to complete the triumvirate.
“What attracted me to it, more than anything, is, I believe this is a great company that the three of us got running really, really well before the initial sale,” Reed said. “And it deserves to continue to exist, and it deserves to be here in this community. These people are too important for us to let it not persist.
“Once Zack and I really started building the financials and looking at the opportunity here, I got really excited.”
King joined as partner and interim CFO for the transition period but will remain as a co-owner. He became an industry consultant after leaving USA Truck when DB Schenker acquired it.
“My goal is to come in to help get the business on a stable footing,” King said. “We have a great team here, but my goal is not to stay in the business long term as the CFO. I’m going to help out where I can right now, I know where I can help, and that’s where I’m going to spend my time.
“After we get through that, we’ll evaluate what that looks like, but I’ll always be in the business from an advisor standpoint.”
The New Owners
Henry, King and Reed acquired the company through their UTAC LLC and will each own one-third of the company.
Reed, in his time at USA Truck as CEO, brought Henry onboard as senior vice president in 2018 and promoted King to CFO from within in 2020. Henry later ran the company’s logistics division, and the three steered USA Truck’s recovery from the dark financial times of 2009-2016.
The company’s turnaround was highlighted by annual revenue increasing from $446.5 million in 2017 to $710 million by 2021. USA Truck reported profits of $24.8 million in 2021, which attracted DB Schenker’s attention.
“The beauty of it is everything operationally was maintained in house at USA Truck, operating systems, truck trailer acquisition,” Henry said. “All of that was managed within the USA truck organization.”
Reed said the partners have an ironclad business agreement for their ownership, and Henry will be in charge of the day-to-day operations. Reed said he will be a do-whatever executive advisor as Henry’s beck and call, while King completes the financial transition of USA Truck into a privately held company.
“The strongest part of USA Truck over the last many years has been the culture, and George has done an incredible job shepherding that,” Reed said. “It would be wrong to say that we agree all the time, but we have a tried-and-true kind of process for making great business decisions and moving forward. “George is the CEO. He’s going to make the call. He’s got our full support. That is what it is.”
While the nuts and bolts of the organization will transition easily, the owners believe the back office turnover will be a bit more complicated. Under DB Schenker, divisions such as human resources, payroll and information technology were run by the German company; systems will have to be transferred back to USA Truck control.
Business Model
Things have changed operationally at USA Truck over the past few years, Henry said.
The company, under DB Schenker’s control, found new shipping customers and began to transport more valuable loads. Those customers and business model will remain, and USA Truck will continue to work with its traditional customers from the past decades.
The company is roughly the same size as it was before the transactional activities between 2022 and 2024. USA Truck, which did not release an employee count, runs about 1,800 tractors and 6,000 trailers, predominantly in the southeastern part of the U.S. and Mexico.
“It’s not hugely different; I would say that we’ve been on a little partial vacation, because there have been initiatives that come along with being a piece of a global freight forwarder that you wouldn’t do as a USA driver carrier,” Henry said. “We are going to grow our company assets into dedicated configurations because they’re less susceptible to market volatility. It provides you a footprint to provide a better customer experience, and those partnerships and relationships typically become less transactional in nature.
“We’re going to continue to be an over-the-road driver and trucking company. We will continue to deploy company assets into that space, and we will really grow with independent contractors in the over-the-road irregular route driving.”
Henry, the former head of logistics, said USA Truck will also pump up its logistics offerings, a growing trend in the transportation world.
“We’re going to grow the hell out of our logistics, which requires very little capital, and frankly, we’re pretty damn good at,” Henry said. “The industry has become oversaturated with brokers, but there are a lot of small ones. We’re a large one that comes with a large brand behind it, and that gives our shipper community confidence in the people that they’re working with.”
King joined USA Truck several years before the recovery and turnaround. He said USA Truck’s position currently is strong, and the ownership group believes it will be in position to take advantage of opportunities as the industry recovers economically.
“I can tell you, I saw some ups and downs,” King said. “From a capitalization standpoint, the business is very well capitalized. We have a low amount of debt that’s currently on the books. We feel really good as we move into the uplift in the market that we’re starting to see in terms of pricing and volumes that we’re positioned well to be able to go out and win a lot of business and compete well in the market.”
Employee Satisfaction
The new owners addressed employees at company headquarters on Monday and the news was well received.
Reed asked the crowd of employees how many had been with USA Truck through its down years and during his CEO tenure, and he said about 90% of the employees raised their hands. He said one employee sought him out three times at the event to shake his hand and thank him for the good news.
“I see these people at church, I see these people in the community, I see them at Walmart, I’ve seen them at funerals,” Reed said. “We created a family here, Zack and George and myself. We felt really strongly about that.
“This is as happy as I’ve been in a long time. I feel like I’m finally home.”
Henry said employee loyalty was a main driver for the subtle switch back to USA Truck after DSV acquired the company. Henry said DSV’s internal mergers team worked well with the company and the new ownership group on the sale of USA Truck.
USA Truck has been based in Van Buren since its founding in 1983.
“This is the third transaction these employees have been through in 3 ½ years,” Henry said. “I have not seen our employees have as positive a reaction on anything in the eight years that I’ve been here. It was joy and elation.
“I am biased, but it’s got to be one of the most iconic transportation brands in this country. It’s back under ownership in the state of Arkansas.”
by Arkansas Business Staff –
by Marty Cook –
by Marty Cook –
Arkansas Business Publishing Group
114 Scott St.
Little Rock, AR 72201
Toll free: (888) 322-6397
Main line: (501) 372-1443
Customer Service: (501) 455-9333
Email Us