Highlight Motor Group

The partnership will accelerate the group's North America growth strategy. Crédit Mutuel Equity, the North American private equity arm of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, a major banking group in France, is proud to announce its partnership with Highlight Motor Group ("HMG"), an Ontario logistics, transportation and warehousing company led by Kirk Kalinitchenko. As an influential minority shareholder, Crédit Mutuel Equity intends to actively support HMG in its continued growth in the very dynamic North American market. Crédit Mutuel Equity has invested $55 million of capital in a dual-purpose transaction: above all, a legacy transaction for the majority shareholder, it will also finance an ambitious development plan.

A key transportation market in Canada

In recent years, North America's sustained economic growth has boosted international trade and freight flows, thereby significantly increasing the demand for trucking services. With the exception of shipments by pipeline, 55% of the total value of Canada's exported goods is transported by road.

Highlight Motor Group, a high-performance company

HMG specializes in advanced niches, such as temperature-controlled shipments and transportation of hazardous products.

"Our company is growing rapidly and we welcome a leading minority shareholder. It was important for us to join forces with a reliable investor who shared our long-term vision, and this partnership will allow us to accelerate our expansion in North America. In this project, Crédit Mutuel Equity has demonstrated a real understanding of our strategy of serving customers by offering undeniable quality, while sharing the large Highlight Motor family's passion for our business," said Kirk Kalinitchenko, President and CEO of Highlight Motor Group.

"Kirk founded HMG at the age of 25, starting out in the transportation industry as a driver/owner-operator of a single truck. His dedication, field experience and leadership have enabled HMG to become a dominant player in the North American transportation and logistics market over the past decade, with the strongest growth in Canada according to the Profit 500 ranking," stated David Dickel, Managing Director of Crédit Mutuel Equity in Canada.

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