UPS acquires U.K.-based Freightex

UPS announced Monday it has acquired U.K.-based truckload brokerage firm Freightex, which it said will help streamline operations for its customers.

Freightex matches customers’ shipments with available capacity on trucks.

Sandy Spring-based UPS said the deal complements its 2015 acquisition of North American truckload brokerage firm Coyote Logistics. UPS, which has operated in Europe for more than 40 years, said it will share technologies across the two companies.

The shipping giant said the deal “immediately establishes UPS’s presence in the growing U.K. and European” market for this segment of the logistics market and gives UPS customers “an immediate, knowledgeable and competitive U.K. and European presence.”

Freightex’s CEO Tim Phillips will continue to lead Freightex as a wholly-owned subsidiary as UPS.

The company did not disclose terms of the transaction, which it completed Jan. 3. It said the European third-party logistics market is forecast to grow to $174 billion by the end of 2016.