Australia’s Toll Group is continuing its global expansion with the acquisition of two UK freightforwarders – WT Sea Air Group (WT) and Genesis Forwarding Group (Genesis) – to become one of the
top UK forwarders.Separately, it has sold its 50% interest in the Pacorini Toll Joint Venture to the PacoriniGroup, which specialises in the transport, warehousing and handling of commodities.
Toll said the A$150 million (€104 million) acquisition of WT Sea Air and Genesis will generatearound A$250 million in revenues for the group, which has an annual turnover of more than A$6.5billion and employs over 35,000 people in 55 countries.
“These two UK-headquartered acquisitions combine to provide significant scale to our Toll GlobalForwarding (TGF) division in Europe. WT is expected to generate revenue this year of around A$170million and Genesis is expected to generate around A$80 million,” said Toll Group’s ManagingDirector, Paul Little.
“Importantly, the two acquisitions we are announcing today place Toll in the top half dozenforwarders in the UK.”
Little stressed that Toll would continue its strategy to build on its strong position in Asianmarkets for key trade lanes into North America, Australia and the UK.
As a primarily UK inbound business from Asia, WT specialises in the provision of globalforwarding and value-added services such as bonded warehousing, pick-and-pack, garment re-hanging,vacuum packing and final-mile delivery services. Its customer base is principally in the retailfashion segment.
Genesis specialises in the provision of complex and mission-critical international multi-modalfreight, predominantly in the Defence, Aerospace and Oil and Gas industries across Europe, the USA,Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
“These market segments are very attractive additions to the general Toll business,” Littleadded.
WT and Genesis employ a total of around 650 people in the UK, Ireland, Asia and North America.They have offices spread around the UK, allowing Toll to offer more comprehensive services in thesecond-largest forwarding market in the EU, Little said.
Last month, Toll expanded in the Asian express market with the acquisition of Singapore-basedDPEX from Qantas for an undisclosed sum. DPEX is one of the largest independent express businessesin Asia with revenues of more than A$30 million (€20.6 million) and is expected to contribute toToll’s group profits in the first year, the Australian express and logistics group announced.
Regarding the sale of Toll’s 50% interest in the Pacorini Toll Joint Venture, Little said: “While the Joint Venture has been a successful business since its formation, it was decided that theownership interest was not a core asset for Toll. Importantly, Toll will continue its relationshipwith Pacorini through the provision of warehousing and other logistics services.”
Incorporated in March 2004, Pacorini Toll was a 50/50 Joint Venture between the Pacorini Groupof Italy and the Toll Group, providing integrated logistics solutions and trade financefacilitation for the ferrous and non-ferrous metals industries.
The sale will generate a small profit for Toll in the financial year 2010.
