Dive Brief:

• Barclays veteran Ihsan Essaid will serve as the first finance chief of newly-created building product distribution firm QXO Inc., Jacobs Private Equity II LLC said in a Tuesday press release. Jacobs Private Equity is the investment arm of Brad Jacobs, the founder and chairman of the board of trucking company XPO Logistics.
• The appointment follows a December announcement by SilverSun Technologies that JPE was set to become the majority stakeholder of the business as part of a $1 billion equity investment. Following the investment, SilverSun Technologies will be renamed as QXO, a publicly-traded entity focused on building product distribution, including building and construction materials.
• “Ihsan is a heavy hitter in the M&A world with an exceptional track record,” Jacobs said in a statement included in the release. “I’m very pleased he’ll be leading QXO’s finance team.”

Dive Insight:

The move to appoint Essaid as QXO’s first finance chief comes only days before SilverSun shareholders are set to vote on whether to approve the $1 billion equity investment, which included $900 million by JPE and $100 million from co-investors including Sequoia Heritage, according to the December announcement. The vote is set to take place May 30, according to a securities filing by SilverSun.

As well as making JPE the company’s main stakeholder, the original agreement noted the new entity will become a “standalone platform for significant acquisitions in an industry to be announced soon,” alongside the name of the new entity, according to the December announcement. Per an updated agreement  in April, QXO will keep SilverSun’s businesses. 

Later that month, Jacobs announced his intent to “create a market leader” in building products distribution, a space with about $800 billion in annual revenue in Europe and North America, to be called QXO Inc.

The entity will focus on doing so through “accretive M&A and organic growth, including greenfield openings, with the goal of generating outsized stockholder value,” Jacobs said in a statement at the time. Following the close of JPE’s equity investment, Jacobs is poised to take over as CEO and chairman of QXO, according to the agreement.

Jacobs, who has founded five companies including the publicly-traded XPO and United Rentals, will retain his roles at XPO as well as his position as non-executive chairman for XPO spinoffs RXO and GXO, the companies said. The company did not specify what date Jacobs or Essaid will assume their new roles.

QXO will Essaid’s M&A expertise as it looks to hit its goal of achieving a $1 billion revenue run-rate by the end of its first year. 

Joining London-based Barclays in 2021, Essaid most recently served as the bank’s managing director, global head of M&A, a role he assumed in April of this year. Prior to that, he had served as co-head of M&A for Barclays, and has also held M&A roles at Credit Suisse and Perella Weinberg Partners, according to his LinkedIn profile.

QXO declined to comment beyond the details included in its press release.