Toll Buys Two UK Forwarders for $127.5 Million

Toll Holdings, the Australian transport and logistics group, will pay around $127.5 million to acquire two UK freight forwarders, WT Sea Air Group and Genesis Forwarding Group.

Toll said July 9 the acquisitions will put it among the top half dozen freight forwarders in the UK, Europe's second largest forwarding market.

WT Sea Air Group is expected to generate revenue this year of approximately $145 million, and Genesis will book sales of $68 million, Toll Group Managing Director Paul Little said.

By The Numbers: European Airlines' Freight Traffic.

The two companies employ around 650 people in the UK, Ireland, Asia and North America.

WT mostly handles imports from Asia, specializing in global forwarding, and value added services such as bonded warehousing and final mile delivery mainly in the retail fashion sector.

Genesis specializes in international multimodal freight mainly in the defense, aerospace, oil and gas industries across Europe, the U.S., the Middle East and the Asia/Pacific region.

Toll also announced it completed the sale of its 50 percent interest in the Pacorini Toll in Italy to its joint venture partner the Pacorini group.

The company, which specializes in logistics and trade finance facilitation for the ferrous and non-ferrous metal industries, is not a core business, Toll said.

Toll said it will book a small profit on the sale in fiscal 2010.

Toll generates annual revenue in excess of $5.5 billion and employs over 35,000 people in 55 countries.

-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.