Carolina Logistics to buy Indiana competitor

Winston-Salem-based Carolina Logistics Services is acquiring a competitor that handles returned goods in the pharmaceuticals industry.

Carolina Logistics is buying Med-Turn Inc. of Westfield, Ind. Med-Turn focuses on software and handling return products for drug makers and drugstores.

"This acquisition of Med-Turn really jump-starts our movement into the reverse logistics for the pharmaceuticals space," said Thomas Marcellino, Carolina Logistics' vice president of sales.

Terms of the deal were not released. The merger should be completed in late July.

Carolina Logistics currently has 450 employees and 22 operations centers nationwide, where the company handles return products for 130 retail clients including Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and CVS Corp.

Med-Turn has 50 employees with one operation center in Indiana. Med-Turn has focused at signing up hospital buying groups and has Novation as a key client.

"This transaction and alignment with (Carolina Logistics) will propel Med-Turn's ongoing solution development and expansion plans and provide increased value to our clients and their trading partners," said Kelly McVey, Med-Turn's chief executive officer.

Carolina Logistics is a subsidiary of Winston-Salem-based Inmar Enterprises Inc., which owns four companies involved in retail operations ranging from coupon processing to retail software systems.

"The acquisition of Med-Turn provides (Carolina Logistics) the ability to offer our current grocery, drug chain and mass merchandising clients an exceptional end-to-end solution to address their unique pharmaceutical returned goods management needs," said Mark Doughton, president of Carolina Logistics. "Furthermore, we're broadening our reach as a company into new markets and industries, which is vital to our long-term growth."

Carolina Logistics' acquisition of Med-Turn should also help the company prepare for expanding outside the United States.