UPS arm in talks to buy AFL for Rs 300 cr

UPS Jetair Express, domestic arm of the US-based logistics major United Parcel Services (UPS), is in talks to acquire Mumbai-based logistics company Air Freight (AFL).According to sources, both parties have been engaged in discussions over the last few months and the deal is expected to be valued at around Rs 300 crore.AFL however denied that it is talks with UPS Jetair Express.

UPS is looking at acquiring both the existing divisions of AFL; the third party logistics (3PL) arm, AFL Logistics and the express courier arm, AFL Wiz. According to sources, the FY 07’ turnover of both the entities is close to Rs 150 crore and Rs 30 crore, respectively, although, both are loss-making companies.The figures could not be confirmed as AFL is not a public-listed company.

If the deal gets through, it will strengthen UPS’ operations in India considering that three of its major global competitors—DHL, FedEx and TNT—have already created significant presence in India through acquisitions of domestic companies.

Read more in The Economic Times article.

ITC Infotech could go public

ITC Infotech, an IT services company and fully-owned subsidiary of ITC, is planning to go public. Although no date has been finalised as to when the company is planning to hit the capital market, Y C Deveshwar, chairman, ITC said the company may opt for the bourses `at some point of time'.

ITC Infotech is a $64 million company with a headcount of over 4,200 employees. The tier-II firm competes with the likes of the global service providers like HP, IBM and Accenture and also tier-one Indian players for enterprise system integration solutions, infrastructure and testing services projects. Some of its clients include British American Tobacco, Abbey National Bank, Finnair, DHL, PTC and Unilever. Around five per cent of the company’s revenues come from ITC.

Read more in The Business Standard article.