Singapore Post, the city-state’s postal service that’s moving aggressively into e-commerce logistics, announced today its second acquisition this week of a U.S. company that provides fulfillment services for online retailers.
The company is buying a 96.3% stake in Cincinnati-based e-commerce services provider TradeGlobal for $168.6 million in cash as it continues to expand its e-commerce business worldwide.
The deal, conducted through Singapore Post’s wholly owned subsidiary TG Acquisition, follows by two days the announcement that Singapore Post had acquired 71.1% of U.S. logistics provider Jagged Peak Inc. for $15.8 million.
“As SingPost’s and TradeGlobal’s e-commerce platforms and warehouse networks are complementary, their clients can expect to leverage integrated technology and fulfilment capabilities,” Singapore Post says in a statement. “This combination creates a one-stop global solution. The ability to deliver global scalable solutions will give SingPost a competitive edge in the e-commerce market.”
“Together with TradeGlobal, SingPost can establish stronger market leadership and have a larger talent pool to drive a global e-commerce strategy,” says Singapore Post Chairman Lim Ho Kee in the statement. “We will also be looking at a larger and deeper footprint. Increasingly, we need to take a ‘one world’ approach towards e-commerce.”
Marcelo Wesseler, CEO of Singapore Post E-commerce, says the acquisition provides the company with greater capacity, allowing it to better handle surges in traffic and transactions during peak shopping seasons.
The deal also lets Singapore Post provide additional e-commerce services for clients who want to expand into the United States, Wesseler says.
The founders of TradeGlobal, CEO Dave Eckley and Dave Cook, executive chairman, will continue in their current positions. TradeGlobal’s clients include Avon Products Inc. (No. 65 in the 2015 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide), Blue Nile Inc. (No. 85), Calvin Klein Inc. (No. 715 in the 2015 Second 500), Coldwater Creek, and Illy. The company says its customers will benefit by gaining access to the Asian market and Singapore Post’s international logistics capabilities.
“The combination of the two companies will enhance our capabilities to build a powerful global e-commerce platform enabling our customers to expand internationally,” Cook says in a statement.
Singapore Post’s second-largest investor, after Singapore Telecommunications, is China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Alibaba announced on July 8 that it invested $138.6 million to acquire an additional 5% stake in Singapore Post. In 2014, an Alibaba unit purchased a 10.35% stake in Singapore Post for $249 million. Alibaba also announced that it was investing $67.85 million for a 34% stake in Quantium Solutions International—a subsidiary of SingPost, which provides logistics and warehousing services to over 10 countries across Asia-Pacific.
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