/ 3 May 2007

Bidvest to buy Asia’s Angliss, Transnet’s Viamax

South African services group Bidvest has agreed to buy Asia-based Angliss Foodservice for about $80-million and a local fleet management firm for $143,3-million, the company said on Thursday.

Bidvest, South Africa’s biggest company by revenue, said it had agreed in principle to acquire state-owned rail utility Transnet’s fleet management and leasing business Viamax Holdings for R1-billion.

”The acquisition will add significant scale to the fledgling fleet service operations,” Bidvest said in a statement.

The Viamax acquisition will be funded through debt and is subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory approvals.

The group, which cautioned shareholders on April 10 that it was in talks on a number of acquisitions, said it had failed to acquire an interest in a United States-based food service business.

Shares in Bidvest were 0,1% firmer at R147,10, slightly underperforming a 0,3% stronger JSE Securities Exchange Top-40 index. – Reuters