Maersk to acquire Hong Kong’s LF Logistics for $3.6bn
05:12, 23 December 2021
Danish shipping major Maersk will acquire Hong Kong-based LF Logistics for $3.6bn in an all-cash deal that will give it access to hundreds of warehouses in Asia and provide revenue beyond its ocean freight business.
The deal is one of the largest in Maersk’s history and continues with the recent trend of the shipping major acquiring logistics companies across the world.
“With the acquisition of LF Logistics, we add critical capabilities in Asia Pacific to support our customers long term growth in Asia Pacific as well as capabilities and technology we can scale in our contract logistics business globally,” Soren Skou, CEO of Maersk, said in a statement on Thursday.
Developing logistics solutions
Maersk’s purchase of LF Logistics will add 223 warehouses to its existing portfolio, bringing the total number of facilities to 549 globally, spread across a total of 9.5m square meters.
Further, as part of the transaction, Maersk has also entered into a strategic partnership with LF Logistics’ parent Li & Fung to develop logistics solutions.
“The partnership will enable both companies to utilise their resources and global networks to create a comprehensive range of end-to-end global supply chain services,” Li & Fung said in a separate statement.
“The divestment of LF Logistics will further simplify our business to focus on our core trading and supply chain digitisation capabilities, which have seen a strong rebound back to pre-Covid-19 levels,” Spencer Fung, group executive chairman of Li & Fung added.