Avion Group makes a pitch for Atlas Cold Storage
TORONTO — Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust, a provider warehousing, distribution and logistics to the refrigerated food industry, is seriously considering a takeover offer from Iceland-based Avion Group.
Avion, an investors group which specializes in land, sea, and air transportation, recently sweetened its offer to $583 million, reports Canadian Press. The increase of $7.50 a unit from $7 is a bid that is considered fair by Atlas’s board and financial advisers.
About 13.8 percent of Atlas’s units are already owned by Avion and Toronto-based KingStreet Capital Partners.
Magnus Thorsteinsson, executive chairman of Avion Group, said he’s pleased to have secured the unanimous support of Atlas’ board of trustees. He says the transaction supports the company’s growth strategy.
The mailing to Atlas unitholders of a notice amending the offer is expected by Wednesday, for completion by Oct. 30.
Atlas, which at one point was the second-largest network of cold-storage warehouses in North America, has recovered from internal irregularities and near bankruptcy.
Not long after buying the entire reefer division of TCT Logistics in 2002, Atlas was also forced to sell most of its transportation assets.
— with files from Canadian Press
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