Australia Post has finalised the acquisition of Qantas’ 50 per cent stake in road express andfreight delivery firm StarTrack to become the company’s sole shareholder.
At the same time, Australia Post has finalised the divestiture of its 50 per cent interest inAustralian Air Express (AAE) to Qantas. The transactions were completed after consultation with theACCC which approved the deals earlier this month.
Under its agreement with Qantas, Australia Post will pay A$408 million (€325m) pluscompletion adjustments of $5 million for the 50 per cent stake in StarTrack. It has already ownedhalf of the company since 2003.
Australia Post Managing Director and CEO Ahmed Fahour said: “The StarTrack acquisition addssignificant additional capability to Australia Post’s services, particularly in the area of expressand tracked parcel services meaning we can enhance our offer to customers, particularly ourbusiness customers.
“The acquisition forms part of a $2 billion investment in Australia Post’s national logisticsand retail network which will accelerate the creation of a world class parcels network to helpdrive the digital economy.”
StarTrack CEO Stephen Cleary will continue to lead the company and StarTrack will remain astandalone entity in the Australia Post group.
Earlier this year StarTrack integrated the former sales division of AAE, leaving the latteras a purely operational cargo airline, and re-launched with a new brand to promote its air and roadexpress services. It has a network of 57 branches, a fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles andtransports more than one million parcels for its customers every week.
