Atlas
Back to Freight & 3PL
Legal / Service Provider·Freight & 3PL

Gordon Mackay

Managing Director, Transportation & Logistics Group at Capstone Partners

New York, NY

GM
LinkedIn
Why they matter

As Capstone's Transportation & Logistics group head, he sees nearly every freight brokerage and 3PL sell-side mandate in the market before it's widely known.

Background

Gordon Mackay is a Managing Director and Group Head of Capstone Partners' Transportation & Logistics investment banking team, with more than 20 years of experience and over $30 billion of completed M&A and capital-raising transactions. He began his career at JPMorgan before moving through UBS and Citigroup, and later led the M&A advisory practice at BG Strategic Advisors, a boutique bank focused on logistics and supply chain, prior to joining Capstone. He holds an MBA from Duke University and a BA from Case Western Reserve University.

Notable deals

  • 2026
    Led Capstone's advisory of Thermo King dealer CSTK on its sale to Trane Technologies
  • 2025
    Advised Stewart Transport, a regional freight carrier, on creating an ESOP
  • 2024
    Advised Supreme Auto Transport on a 75% equity investment from Nikkon Holdings
  • 2023
    Advised A&M Cold Storage on its sale to WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings

Call-prep brief

Background

  • MD and Group Head, Transportation & Logistics at Capstone Partners (NY); 20+ years in IB, $30B+ in closed transactions.
  • Career path: JPMorgan → UBS → Citigroup → BG Strategic Advisors (logistics-focused boutique) → Capstone.
  • MBA, Duke University; BA, Case Western Reserve.

Current Focus

  • Runs sell-side and capital-raise mandates across freight brokerage, asset-based trucking, cold storage/temp-controlled logistics, and logistics technology.
  • Recently closed CSTK/Trane Technologies (Feb 2026), Stewart Transport ESOP (2025), Supreme Auto Transport/Nikkon (2024), and A&M Cold Storage/WillScot (2023).

What He Cares About

  • Businesses "integrating the analog and digital realms" — asset-heavy logistics operators adopting tech/data capabilities.
  • Founder-led, family-owned freight and specialty transport businesses nearing a liquidity or succession event.

Sensitivities

  • Deal-flow intelligence is his stock-in-trade; he won't discuss active mandates or client identities without an NDA.
  • As a banker (not a lawyer, despite any archetype tagging), his read is market/valuation-driven, not legal/regulatory — calibrate questions accordingly.

Questions to Ask

  1. What's driving current valuation multiples and buyer appetite for regional freight brokers and asset-based carriers right now?
  2. Which subsegments (cold chain, auto transport, LTL) are seeing the most strategic buyer interest versus PE interest?
  3. What operational/tech diligence red flags most often kill freight brokerage deals in his experience?

Outreach draft

Subject
Freight brokerage market perspective — quick call?
Hi Gordon, I've been following Capstone's transportation and logistics work, including the CSTK/Trane deal and the Stewart Transport ESOP — impressive run of closings in the freight and cold-chain space. I'm on a deal team evaluating opportunities in freight brokerage and 3PL, and would value your read on where valuations and buyer appetite stand right now, particularly for founder-owned regional carriers and brokers. Would you have 20 minutes in the next week or two for a brief call? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

Sources