Executives Will Buy Tustin-Based Freight Company : Buyout: Three officials announce deal with Canadian parent to purchase Right-O-Way, but do not disclose terms. They hope ‘to concentrate on a strategy of domestic and international growth.’

Three executives at Right-O-Way Inc. said Thursday that they will buy the air freight company from its Canadian-based parent, Day & Ross Inc.

Right-O-Way President Alex Milovic, along with Chief Financial Officer Adrian Hex and Chief Operating Officer Ron Hewison, said they will purchase the subsidiary. They did not disclose terms of the transaction, including its value.

“Our existing hands-on management will be strengthened by an ownership position,” the management group said in a statement. “The management buyout will allow us to concentrate on a strategy of domestic and international growth.”

Right-O-Way, based in Tustin, has about $60 million in annual sales and nearly 300 employees, Milovic said. The company was founded in 1959 and has grown to become a major domestic and international air freight carrier, he said. Analysts say that about 60% to 70% of its sales come from domestic deliveries.

Transportation giant Day & Ross, one of Canada’s largest private companies, bought Right-O-Way in 1987 from Josh Brown, then the company’s sole owner.

Right-O-Way competes against other mid-size firms in the air-freight business, transporting large-volume merchandise such as clothes, computers and electronic equipment. Unlike much larger companies, such as Burlington Air Express in Irvine, Right-O-Way and its competitors do not own aircraft. Instead, they buy cargo space on other carriers, operating much like travel agents who book flights for passengers.

“There’s always an element of risk in the business,” said Larry P. Rodberg, president of Eden Air Freight Inc. in Costa Mesa, a competitor with about $40 million in annual sales. “But Alex (Milovic) probably feels very strongly about this and where the company is going.”

Analysts said it would be difficult to speculate how much the executives paid for the company, given that Right-of-Way has few assets and does not disclose its earnings. They noted that the air-cargo industry has been in a slump because of fierce competition and the recession.

“It’s an excellent time to buy,” said Edwin C. Laird, director of the Air Cargo Management Group in Seattle, which publishes the industry newsletter Cargo Facts. Throughout the industry, he said, “the bottom lines and gross revenues have not been good, so they probably got a favorable price.”

Laird doubts that the company’s competitive position--second or third among freight companies that do not own aircraft--will change much. But he said that Right-O-Way’s management team is “one of the most aggressive” among similar freight companies.