Aviapartner and VCK Holding saidin a statement that Aviapartner is closeto a take-over of VCK Holding’s sharesin its cargo-handling subsidiary AeroGroundservices BV. Final agreementwill be reached with the approval fromthe relevant authorities.

Aero Groundservices has traditionallybeen strong in the Asian full freightercarrier sector at Schiphol, where it has astrong and diversified customer base.

With this deal, Amsterdam-Schipholbecomes the largest cargo station inAviapartner’s network with a volume of412,000 tonnes of cargo.

Aviapartner Cargo currently handles980,000 tonnes of cargo on a yearlybasis, corresponding to a turnover of70 million euros.

With Aero Groundservices, thegroup tonnage will increase by 43 percentto 1,392,000 tonnes and total cargoturnover will be 120 million euros, i.e.an increase of 71 percent.