NLM features a proprietary online auction system, allowing carriers to bid on loads that are then awarded electronically. NLM receives a transportation-management fee for each transaction. The company's software assesses hundreds of carrier analytics while facilitating more than 450,000 loads a year for shippers. The planned acquisition includes a second technology product, A3i. The purchase price is $87m in cash, subject to working-capital adjustment. The transaction is expected to close by mid-January of 2014, subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance and customary conditions. XPO chairman and chief executive officer Bradley Jacobs said the deal will give the company an entry into managed transportation, "an area of logistics that has been of keen interest to us for some time."

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