The Singapore-based food solutions and gateway services provider acquired WFS for €1.3 billion from an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, representing an enterprise value of €2.25 billion.
The acquisition received support from 96.8% of SATS’ voting shareholders in January and obtained regulatory approval in all relevant jurisdictions in February.
WFS is now a subsidiary of SATS and will keep its brand name and its headquarters will remain in Paris.
CEO Craig Smyth will continue to run the company and report to Kerry Mok, President and CEO of SATS, and to the advisory board.
The combined company has a presence in the Americas, Europe and the APAC region and is present in top American and European airports including Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Frankfurt and Paris, and top Asian airports such as Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore and Beijing.
Mok says recent global events have highlighted the importance of supply chain resiliency, saying, “SATS and WFS will provide our customers with the critical global cargo handling capability, and the scale advantage for us to develop and pioneer new solutions that will enhance our customers’ competitiveness. We welcome the management team and employees of WFS into the SATS family. Our focus is now on accelerating value creation for our customers over the medium term.”
Smyth adds, “Together, we will drive technology and service innovations while maintaining our industry-leading standards of safety and security. We are very excited about the value we can deliver for customers from our combined capabilities and broader network.”