Baring Asia, PAI Partners buy cargo freight manager
Baring Private Equity Asia has teamed up with Europe-focused PAI Partners to acquire World Freight Company International (WFCI), which markets and manages cargo freight capacity for airlines.
The size of the transaction was not disclosed, but it was previously reported that the bank running the sale process was targeting a valuation of about EUR600 million ($711 million). WFCI has been controlled by US-based Greenbriar Equity Group since 2015 when it took out a string of minority investors. Pierre Brunet, WFCI’s founder and chairman, retained an interest but he will now exit alongside Greenbriar.
WFCI works with more than 200 airline customers on 16,000 routes, serving every major air cargo market through a network of over 200 offices. It claims to be the global leader in the general sales and service agent (GSSA) industry. Headquartered in France, the company is particularly active in the Asia-Europe corridor and the new owners expect more growth to come from Asia. CEO Vikram Singh, who joined WFCI in 2010 to roll out its Asia business, is based in Hong Kong.
WFCI manages more than EUR1.3 billion of freight every year through subsidiaries including Air Logistics, ATC Aviation Services, Worldwide GSA, Hermes Aviation, and Platinum Air Cargo. The senior management teams of all the company’s operating subsidiaries will remain in place.
“WFCI has demonstrated a strong track record of growth and we are confident that this will continue given the rapid and secular growth in cross-border e-commerce. The company already generates a significant proportion of revenues from Asia and we believe there is strong potential for further expansion in the region,” Kenneth Cheong, a managing director at Baring, said in a statement.
Baring, which has more than $11 billion in committed capital, primarily operates in Asia but it makes international acquisitions where there is an Asian expansion angle. The firm is in the process of raising its seventh pan-regional fund, which has a target of $5.5 billion. PAI has offices across Europe and manages EUR12.3 billion of dedicated buyout funds.
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