The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that TFI International has agreed to purchase Daseke Inc. for $1.1-billion including debt (all figures U.S.). A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that TFI will pay $8.30 a share in cash for Daseke, a Texas-based operator with 4,900 large trucks and 11,000 flatbed and specialized trailers. That is a premium of 69 per cent from the closing share price on Thursday. Prior to the announcement of the deal, Daseke's shares had fallen 48 per cent over the past two years amid a prolonged freight recession. Daseke shares surged 66 per cent to close at $8.10 on Friday in New York. TFI rose 6 per cent to $172.32. TFI said it will consider splitting into two publicly traded companies following the purchase of Daseke -- one dedicated to long-haul trucking, known as truckload, and another with all its other trucking assets, including less-than-truckload. TFI became a large less-than-truckload carrier after purchasing the trucking unit of United Parcel Service Inc. in 2021 for $800-million. It has been growing through such acquisitions, snapping up six trucking operations in 2023 alone prior to the Daseke deal.