Government Clears Way For UPS' Acquisition of Overnite

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ederal regulators Monday cleared UPS Inc.’s purchase of less-than-truckload carrier Overnite Corp. of antitrust concerns, paving the way for the acquisition to be completed, Bloomberg reported.

The Federal Trade Commission approved the $1.25 billion deal, first announced May 16, that would give UPS an LTL carrier, Bloomberg said. Its rival FedEx Corp. has an LTL unit, FedEx Freight.

At the time of the deal’s announcement, UPS said the acquisition would allow it to expand its services by offering a variety of truckload and LTL services to its North American customers.

Overnite, headquartered in Richmond, Va., reported 2004 net income of $63.3 million on revenue of $1.65 billion and has more than 60,000 customers in the LTL and truckload sectors.

UPS is ranked No. 1 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.