Sydney-based private equity group Gresham Partners, controlled by Wesfarmers, is spending about $200 million on six family-owned transport and logistics businesses around the country, which it will consolidate into a larger outfit to be called Silk Logistics.
The money is a combination of equity and debt, raised from a number of un-named banks. Former BP logistics executive Bob Welsh is said to take the helm of the new group.
"It’s a mid-market play and we have third-party clients like Toll Holdings and Linfox," Gresham private equity chief Roy McKelvie is reported to have said by The Australian newspaper.
"It’s a sector where people are always doing mergers and acquisitions and there is low cost of entry – it’s quite dynamic.
"We are putting them all together to make them more efficient and offer better services to our clients."
Mr McKelvie would not reveal how much debt was being used to fund the latest acquisitions but said he was pleased that the banks were still supporting mid-market deals.