SJ Holding Limited

Overview

Founded in 1990, SJ Holding Limited is a Hong Kong-based transport and logistics business with operations throughout China and Southeast Asia. Across several business divisions, the group provides a range of logistics services in China and Hong Kong, however the majority of its revenue is generated in freight forwarding from key Asia Pacific export hubs to Australasia.

Clemenger International Freight is one of the largest independent freight forwarding businesses in Australia and New Zealand and has been a local counterparty to SJ Group for more than twenty years. Its acquisition provided the ideal platform asset for SJ Group in the region.

333 Capital has extensive experience advising businesses across the Australian transport and logistics sector and was well-placed to advise SJ Group on this transformative opportunity.

Objective

The SJ Group vision is to become a major player in the APAC freight forwarding sector through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. To acquire Clemenger International Freight and expand into Australia, SJ needed to a secure a local financier and add an Australasian arm into its existing corporate structure. SJ shareholders were also keen to maintain business continuity post-acquisition, ensuring that the founders of Clemenger International Freight remained with the business.

Our approach

To establish a target enterprise value in a volatile macroenvironment, 333 Capital undertook extensive market analysis and validation of Clemenger's forecast financial performance. 333 Capital also ensured that the transaction was structured to ensure that total consideration would reflect sustainable earnings and that the founding shareholders were appropriately incentivised to remain with the business.

333 Capital also approached a select group of potential financiers, with a major Australian bank ultimately selected as the preferred acquisition funding partner. Its input and participation provided SJ Group with a tier one long-term banking partner in Australia.

333 Capital also liaised with warranty and indemnity insurers and ensured that appropriate coverage was incorporated into the agreement, providing further confidence to both parties.

Outcomes

With the acquisition of Clemenger International Freight, SJ Group now has a high-quality platform asset in Australasia that provides a template for future corporate activity both here and throughout the Asia Pacific. Benefiting from added scale and buying power with both shipping lines and suppliers, SJ Group is driving revenue and cost synergies throughout its business and is emerging as a new force in the most dynamic trade region in the world.