Qube Logistics makes $199 million purchase of Western Australian bulk trucking concern Giacci Holdings
By Rob McKay| February 27, 2012
Qube Logistics has made an audacious bid to create a vertically integrated resources logistics service with the $199 million purchase of Western Australian bulk trucking concern Giacci Holdings.
And, despite going into debt to the tune of $20 million and to the market with a share placing to help fund the purchase, Qube’s acquisitions will continue.
The attraction here, Qube says, is that Giacci has built its core business in the mining industry, specifically in mineral haulage and handling, “providing mine-to-port solutions for the majority of its customers and in most instances, assuming full responsibility for the supply chain”.
The acquisition will enable Qube to provide a complete logistics chain, from mine gate to ship’s hold, covering transport, stockpile management and stevedoring.
Giacci, which employs more than 350 people, has a fleet of bulk handling equipment and brings with it strategic partnerships and joint ventures incorporating shipping and rail.
The Bunbury-headquartered firm manages more than 17 million tonnes of bulk products per year.
“It helps to increase our exposure across the resources sector,” Qube Managing Director Maurice James tells SCR sister title ATN.
“It’s a combination of diversifying our activities across the transport chain but still focused on import-export.
“The vertical integration [is] from mine to port and including the activities we do in a number of ports.”
James would not be drawn on what revenues Qube thinks Giacci will inject, saying only that it is expected to be “earnings accretive” from next month, when the sale.
Giacci Managing Director Peter Giacci, who, James says, will pick up 20 million Qube shares in the transaction and remains for at least two years at the head of the firm, says he is looking forward “to working with the Qube management team to continue to offer an enhanced range of high quality, efficient and competitive services to our existing and potential customer base”.
James believes Qube manangement’s background, coming as it does predominantly from the pre-Toll/Asciano Patrick Corporation, means cultural differences between the firms will be kept to a minimum
“I think strategically we fit together well.
“Of course it’s a change for both parties but we’re confident, in the discussions my team has had with Peter Giacci, that it’ll fit well and we can work together on opportunities where in the past we would have been separate.”