Chilean investment fund Bethia has bought the courier businesses of LAN Airlines for $54 million(€38 million) and will combine them with transport subsidiary Sotraser to create a major national
express transport and delivery company.Bethia, which owns a small 8 per cent stake in LAN, announced that it has completed theacquisition of Blue Express and Blue Express International. The acquisition price was alreadyagreed in January ahead of the due diligence period.
“The acquisition of Blue Express is in line with the intentions of Bethia to create afirst-class transport holding in Chile,” the investment group stated. Blue Express will retain itsbrand and identity as well as its operational network, it added.
Blue Express was the new name given in 2008 to LAN Courier, the airline’s express deliverybusiness, under a new strategy of broadening its business. The company was described by Bethia asthe local market leader for physical distribution, warehousing and international courier services.It offers a range of time-definite express delivery services and value-added services within Chileas well as worldwide delivery through the SkyNet international alliance.
According to LAN’s 2010 annual report, its revenues from the “logistics and courier” businesstotalled $36.7 million last year, up from $33 million in 2009.
Sotraser is a road transport company with a fleet of 540 trucks and offers nationwidetransportation services for a customer base of some 200 major accounts. It also offers B2B and B2Cdistribution services with a fleet of 150 vans and has warehousing capacity of more than 10,000sqm.
