Global private markets firm Partners Group is acquiring a 24.9% stake in Chinese freight forwarder Apex International Corporation, per an announcement.
The deal size could not be ascertained.
Partners Group will join Apex’s board of directors alongside one of its majority shareholder Kuehne+Nagel Group that invested in the company earlier this year from private equity firm MBK Partners.
Established in 2001, Apex is one of Asia’s leading freight forwarders, especially on the transpacific and intra-Asia trade routes.
The company, headquartered in Hong Kong and Shanghai, has a headcount of around 1,600 employees worldwide.
Going forward, the company plans to establish new freight forwarding routes, as it gears up to identify new growth verticals such as healthcare and M&A.
The proposed acquisition is currently awaiting clearance from merger control authorities.
So far, Partners Group has invested over $145 billion in the areas such as private equity, private real estate, and private infrastructure.
The firm recently acquired a controlling stake in the US community solar and battery storage platform Dimension Renewable Energy. It also bought US women’s healthcare services provider Axia Women’s Health in May.
“Apex benefits from the rise of cross-border e-commerce – a key transformative trend that has accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Partners Group private equity managing director Sheng Liu in a statement.
Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Apex claims to have generated a turnover of $2.4 billion, gross profit of $339 million, while its earnings before taxes stood at $141 million.
