Growthgate Acquires 49% of E-Freight International
Growthgate the newly established Bahrain-incorporated buyout firm, has announced the execution of a final sale and purchase agreement to acquire 49% of the capital stock of E-Freight International, a leading logistics, warehousing and freight forwarding company based in the UAE. E-Freight’s estimated profits in 2007 were at AED 13 million. The company has operations in Sharjah, Jebel-Ali and the Dubai Free Zone in additional to special logistics support and freight services in Afghanistan.
E-Freight was founded in 2002 by a group of senior executives from the freight and logistics industry and has developed into one of the leading air transport and freight forwarders in the Middle East. E-Freight is on an unparalleled growth path that has seen its revenues soar from AED 85 million in 2005 to AED 194 million in 2006 while realizing significant net margins. E-Freight’s management is set to develop the company into a fully-integrated logistics and transport outfit to capitalize on the massive opportunities in global trade and transshipment of goods between the key markets of Asia and Europe via the Gulf. For that, it is embarking on an aggressive strategy to acquire freight, express courier and logistics companies throughout the Gulf, Asia, the Near East and Africa. E-Freight plans, within the coming 2 to 3 years, to have completed its ambitious expansion plan that would see its footprint reach no less than 50 markets with operations spanning from warehousing management, to freight forwarding, express courier, postal and remittances services. Growthgate, a specialized buyout firm with a ‘roll-up’ private equity model, focuses on acquiring local, successful businesses that are principally located in the GCC and turning them into regional champions through a series of selected acquisitions, well-timed acquisitions in specific, growth orientated sectors.
Growthgate was formed in late 2006, by a team of veteran Arab investment bankers and corporate financiers with extensive experience in both the geographies earmarked by Growthgate and the sectors it intends to invest into. Growthgate shareholders include prominent institutional and individual investors from the Gulf States and the wider Middle East region. The investment by Growthgate in E-Freight will be in the form of a capital increase to secure the company with growth capital and expansion finance. The value of the deal was not disclosed. Both Growthgate and E-Freight are privately held companies.
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