Perth, Australia: Automotive Holdings has purchased the interstate refrigerated transport business of Toll Holdings for Aus$6.5m. Automotive Holdings owns Rand Refrigerated Logistics.
Toll managing director Brian Kruger said in a statement: “Due to the challenging market conditions and margin pressure faced by this business, we concluded that, in this case, divestment was the best option,”
The sale does not include Toll’s cold storage warehouses in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, but Automotive Holdings will lease some of that warehouse space in the short term.
About 100 Toll staff will transfer to Automotive Holdings as a result of the sale.
Automotive Holdings said the acquisition was expected to deliver about Aus$75m in annual revenue to Rand. “The purchase is a complementary acquisition given TR operates a similar business model to Rand, allowing Rand to unlock cost synergies and generate incremental growth,” Automotive Holdings said in a statement.
Its managing director Bronte Howson said the acquisition would result in greater utilisation of Rand’s existing equipment and reduce empty and part load movements across the network.
