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State-owned Omani shipping and logistics conglomerate Asyad Group has emerged as the buyer of UK freight forwarder Ligentia, after several competition regulators were notified of an impending purchase.
According to German transport and logistics news outlet DVZ, the sale was cleared by German competition regulator Bundeskartellamt on 9 February, and is now being studied by Polish competition authorities.
The Loadstar understands that notification of the sale was first submitted to the Bundeskartellamt on 20 January.
However, confirmation of the impending sale came from Morocco’s competition authority, the Conseil de la Concurrence, which last week said it had received “notification of a proposed economic concentration transaction relating to the acquisition, by the company Asyad Logistics of indirect sole control of the company Project Como Topco, the parent company of Ligentia Group Holdings and its subsidiaries, through the acquisition by its subsidiary, Asyad Logistics International of 100% of its capital and related voting rights”.
The regulator added that “following the transaction, Asyad Logistics will hold 80.5% of the shares of Ligentia Group Holdings, with minority shareholders retaining 19.5%”.
Ligentia and its subsidiaries “are active in the provision of freight forwarding services in the field of international transport and contract logistics”, the authority added.
In 2021 Ligentia refinanced its capital structure with investment from private equity fund Equistone Partners Europe.
Equistone declined to comment to a Loadstar query.
According to S&P’s CapitalIQ database, Ligentia has just over 1,200 employees globally and has annual revenue in the $500m-$600m range.
If the deal goes through, it will be the latest example of state-backed Middle East shipping and port operators expanding their reach into freight forwarding. Yesterday, Loadstar Premium reported that the recent hiring of a team of ex-DB Schenker executives at AD Ports-owned Noatum Logistics was likely the precursor to further asset-light logistics acquisitions.
It said: “Sources stress that ex-Schenker management board members Jochen Thewes and Thorsten Meincke have not joined Abu Dhabi’s Noatum Logistics to take some time off; they need to build.”
It is not Asyad’s first foray into freight forwarding – in mid-2024 it acquired Dubai-based Skybridge Freight Services for an undisclosed amount.
Meanwhile, Asyad Shipping – formerly known as Oman Shipping, which listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange last year and raised just over $330m – concentrates most of its activities on bulk energy and commodity shipments, particularly LNG, tankers, and the dry bulk sectors.
It does, however, have a nascent container shipping operation, slot chartering on two Asia-Middle East services as well as operating a feeder service between Jebel Ali and the three Omani ports of Sohar, Duqm, and Salalah. It also has ownership stakes in the container terminal operations of all three ports.
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