Singapore Post has accelerated its acquisition of a further stake in its 51%-owned subsidiary Freight Management Holdings (FMH) in Australia.
Through its wholly owned subsidiary, SingPost Australia Investments (SPAI), SingPost will acquire an additional 37% interest in FMH, increasing its total stake to 88% upon completion of the transaction. The total for the additional acquisition is expected to amount to approximately A$175.4m (US$121m).
FMH is the leading fourth-party logistics (4PL) service provider in Australia, providing integrated supply chain and distribution services through a proprietary technology platform. FMH has been expanding its geographical reach and third-party logistics (3PL) capabilities as part of the group’s strategy to develop a digitally enabled integrated B2B and B2C logistics business.
SPAI first acquired a 28% interest in FMH in December 2020 and increased its shareholdings to 51% in November 2021 with a pathway to further raise its shareholdings subsequently.
Vincent Phang, CEO, SingPost Group, said, “The strategic acquisition of FMH is a key move in strengthening the SingPost Group in the overseas logistics space. FMH has performed strongly since our initial investment and is a key growth driver in the Group’s Logistics business.”
Besides FMH, SingPost also owns CouriersPlease, a first- and last-mile delivery courier network covering 90% of the population in Australia.
“We have made good progress in combining the capabilities of our Australian businesses, leveraging each of their capabilities. This strategic acquisition gives us access to FMH’s digitally enabled logistics capabilities, and with our last-mile delivery network in CouriersPlease, allows us to offer customers technology-led integrated B2B and B2C logistics solutions in the Australian market. This would play a key role in us being a logistics player of choice in the Asia-Pacific,” Phang added.