Imperial sells its South American shipping biz to Hidrovias do Brasil

April 20, 2021: Imperial has entered into an agreement for the sale of its South American shipping business to Hidrovias do Brasil S.A., an independent integrated logistics provider focused on waterways logistics services in Latin America. The closing date of the transaction was April 16.

The agreed maximum enterprise value for the interest in the South American operations is $90 million (approximately ZAR1,305 million).

“Hidrovias do Brasil S.A. is well positioned to operate the business sustainably based on long-standing customer relationships and a highly skilled, experienced and motivated work force,” said Mohammed Akoojee, Imperial's group chief executive officer.

As previously communicated to the market, it is Imperial’s strategic intent to become a ‘One Imperial’ business and serve as the ‘Gateway to Africa’ to its clients, principals, and customers. “We are transforming from a portfolio of regional businesses to an integrated end-to-end logistics and market access business that is focused on Africa, leveraging our scale, competitive advantages and capabilities in the healthcare, consumer, chemicals, automotive, and industrial and commodities industries. As such, we thoroughly assessed the strategic fit of our logistics international business and decided to exit this business in a phased approach as it is non-core. The South American shipping business forms part of this process and follows the disposal of the European shipping business, which was concluded on July 31, 2020. The remaining freight management and contract logistics operations within the international logistics business remain for sale and we are in the process of disposing of these, as announced at the group’s FY2021 interim results on February 23,” as per a release issued by Imperial.

“This acquisition gives us a very important operational flexibility which will allow us to complement our navigation capacity and operate in regions where we currently do not access” stated Fabio Schettino, Hidrovias do Brasil S.A. CEO.

The transaction’s proceeds will be used to optimise the financial position of Imperial, reducing its overall existing debt in the short-term and will be invested in new growth areas in line with the group’s strategy in due course.