UPS is creating a Dubai-based joint venture to buy its Turkish partner company and target strongergrowth in the Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia region.
The new company, whose name was not disclosed, will be headquartered in Dubai to coordinatemanagement and growth of UPS express package, freight forwarding and contract logistics servicesacross the Middle East, Turkey and portions of Central Asia.
UPS will have a majority stake in the new joint venture while Haluk Undeger, CEO of Unsped Paket Servisi San ve Ticaret A.S., the UPS service agent in Turkey, will hold a minoritystake. Undeger, who has grown the operation in Turkey to be UPS’s largest service contractor, willalso manage the joint venture.
In a first step, the JV will acquire the Unsped small package operations in Turkey. Specificterms of the deal were not disclosed. The nearly 2,500 employees of Unsped will continue to bemanaged by the Turkish leadership team and will become part of the joint venture.
Revenues for Unsped have increased over 18% on a compounded annual growth rate for the pastthree years, UPS said. Unsped systems in Turkey already link with UPS back-end processing toprovide global visibility for customers.
“This emerging area covers trade to and from 21 countries where UPS is experiencing increaseddemand,” said Dan Brutto, president of UPS International. “We’re tapping the business acumenHaluk Undeger has shown over the past 20 years in his relationship with UPS. This joint venturewill spearhead growth among our other service agents and operations in these countries. This partof the world has become a transportation bridge and ideal near-sourcing location for Europe, Russiaand Asia.”
Increased attention in this larger region also will further opportunity with the growing oiland natural gas industry sector, UPS pointed out.
The joint venture follows the announcement earlier this year of expanded UPS domestic expresssmall package pickup and delivery services offered in Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UnitedArab Emirates (UAE) with a single technology platform. Shipping processes and informationvisibility for all domestic and international package delivery services in these countries havebeen streamlined.
UPS first entered the Middle East in 1987 when it established import operations in Bahrain.The company expanded to offer a comprehensive service portfolio combining local expertise throughservice contractors and joint ventures within countries, initiating service in Turkey throughUnsped in 1988. In 2004, Dubai, UAE, became an important gateway for “around-the-world”flights between Europe and Asia to link major business regions and leverage the UPS global networkfor sorting and bypass operations in the most efficient manner.
