Warburg Pincus-backed Stellar Value Chain Solutions Pvt. Ltd has acquired Patel Roadways, a company operating in the express logistics segment.
Stellar caters to the logistics needs of customers across e-commerce, consumer retail, FMCG, auto, pharma, telecom, industrial, chemicals and electronics sectors. Stellar said in a statement on Thursday that its unit Innovative Logistics Services Pvt. Ltd will buy the Patel Roadways division of Patel Integrated Logistics Ltd including express, less-than-truckload (LTL) and full-truck-load (FTL) segments by way of a slump sale in an all-cash deal.
This is the third acquisition for Stellar since it began in 2016. US private equity firm Warburg invested $125 million in the company in 2016 for securing a majority stake.
Stellar had earlier acquired Kelvin Cold Chain Logistics Pvt. Ltd and Innovative Logistics Services Pvt. Ltd.
The acquisition of Patel Roadways significantly strengthens Stellar’s operational capabilities and augments its road network reach to over 350 branches servicing more than 15,000 pin-codes pan-India, the statement said.
“With the Patel Roadways acquisition, we intend to make deeper inroads in the Express and LTL distribution space across the country. Patel Roadways is an extremely reputed brand and we have known it well for decades,” Stellar chairman and managing director Anshuman Singh said.
With Patel Roadways, Stellar now has a reach of over 15,000 PIN codes, he said, adding the company has so far spent nearly₹200 crore on the three acquisitions. “We are looking at both inorganic and organic growth,” he said.
Stellar has a pan-India footprint comprising total logistics area of 9 million sq. ft (covered warehousing area of 4.5 million plus sq ft.) across 30 cities. The company has a fleet of over 1,000 trucks in express and temperature-controlled transportation.
Singh said the company plans to scale up these businesses to₹1,000 crore in topline in the next two years.
Source: Mint