Text: Bhargav TS
TVS Logistics, third party logistics (3PL) service provider, has acquired Australia-based Transtar International Freight, through its JV arm TVS Asianics Supply Chain Solutions. The Madurai headquartered TVS Logistics will invest Rs 200 crore towards acquiring majority stake and to grow the business. With this deal TVS Logistics enter into Australia and covered most of the region in the globe except South America. Transtar, an integrated transportation and supply chain solutions provider throughout the Asia region which has its presence in South East Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand and China will now help TVS Logistics to strengthen its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region. Post the deal, Transtar will continue to be headquartered in Melbourne (Australia).
S Ravichandran, Executive Director, TVS Logistics Services Limited, Hank Meyer, Group Managing Director Transtar International Freight,
R Dinesh, Managing Director, TVS Logistics Services Limited and James H. McAdam, Chief Executive Officer TVS Asianics Supply Chain.
Transtar is an integrated transportation supply chain solutions provider throughout the Asian region. With an annual revenue of $130 million, it is the largest privately-owned international logistics company in Australia, with strategic presence in 10 of the top 12 container ports across world. In the past, TVS Logistics had acquired companies in the UK, Europe and USA to acquire both capabilities and customers. Transtar is the seventh acquistion for the company over the last 4 years.
The Managing Director of TVS Logistics Services, R Dinesh said, “Transtar is an important business addition for us as it not only strengthens our presence across Asia Pacific region but also strengthens our service offering by including end-to-end freight forwarding solutions. We are now a globally-relevant player with unique differentiation, which along with our global presence and synergies help our customers experience world-class solutions.” He further commented that the acquisition not only brings in an additional revenue of $200 million annually but also brings in lot of customers with China as the major customer market, which hitherto TVS Logistics was lacking.
“The addition of Transtar’s extensive international freight forwarding services to our existing domestic oriented logistics products and capabilities throughout China and southeast Asia will enhance our service offering and create a unique Asia-focused logistics capability,” said James McAdam, CEO & Partner, TVS Asianics Supply Chain Solutions.
TVS Logistics will also be moving its Indian freight forwarding business subsidiary – TVS Dynamic Global Freight Services to TVS Asianics to work as a consolidated division in freight forwarding business, however, the move is subjected to RBI’s approval.
Responding to a question on future acquisition, Dinesh added that, “We do not go in for acquisition just for the sake of doing it. Such decisions are taken to enhance the overall delivery capability and customer requirements. We will always keep an eye for acquisitions.”
Hank Meyer, CEO and Founder, Transtar, said, “We are delighted to partner with TVS Asianics and become part of the TVS Logistics global network. We are excited about the ability to integrate into TVS LSL’s expanding international network and significantly expand the scope of our end-to-end logistics products for our customers.”
Another important aspect of Transtar’s business proposition is its Wuhan back office in China. Wuhan is a wholly-owned and operated division of Transtar International Freight (TIF) that operates with fulltime professional employees who are engaged in providing a variety of shared-support services such as finance, accounting, bill of lading, documentation, customer services and reporting activities across TIF’s global operating network. The team is connected through TIF innovative technology platform and operates in real-time to support TIF’s customer requirements.
