Imperial Holdings Acquires 49% Stake Of UACN’s Logistics Business

VENTURES AFRICA – UAC of Nigerian Plc. (UACN) has signed a strategic partnership with South African-based Imperial Holdings Limited for the later to acquire 49 percent equity in its wholly-owned subsidiary, MDS Logistics Plc.

This comes after UACN announced that it had sold a 51 percent share acquisition of Livestock Feeds Plc, a company that produces animal feeds and quoted in the Agricultural sub-sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s Daily Official List.

MDS is Nigeria’s leading provider of integrated supply chain solutions such as warehousing, haulage, distribution and redistribution in over 600 cities and villages connected by a network of 50 distribution centres across Nigeria.

While UAC will continue to own 51 percent majority stake in MDS Logistics, a statement released by the company on Monday said the joint venture was driven by the need for a strategic partnership with an experienced international operator that would bring technical expertise into the company.
Speaking on the partnership, UACN’s Group Managing Director, Larry Ettah, said his company is looking forward to working together with Imperial Logistics as its strategic partner to engage the under-served and fast- growing logistics market in Nigeria.

Ettah added that, “The combination of MDS’ vital local experience and the value adding international logistics expertise of Imperial Logistics will lead to efficiency and raise benchmarks in Nigeria for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

Imperial Logistics Chief Executive Officer, Marius Swanepoel, on his part said, the newest acquisition strengthens Imperial Logistics’ footprint in Africa and that it is consistent with its strategy of focusing on consumer opportunities in Africa and following its customer base on the continent.
“MDS has a quality customer base with a strong new business pipeline. Through the transaction, Imperial has also secured a specialist management team, which strengthens and complements the group’s existing skills set in the logistics business,” he said.

Imperial Logistics, a division of the Imperial group, is an international logistics and supply chain leader delivering excellence in end-to-end logistics and supply chain management with operations in several African countries and in Europe.

UACN, on the other hand, is a company with operations in foods, paints, logistics and real estate.

Source: Ventures