Australian group Toll, one of the Asia region’s leading providers of integrated logistics, has announced it has reached an agreement with China Merchants Group to acquire all the remaining 49 per cent of shares in Shenzhen-based ST-Anda Logistics.

ST-Anda has an extensive logistics network across mainland China with warehouses and depots in more than 30 cities and a distribution network reaching over 1,500 cities across the country, according to Toll.

“Moving ST-Anda to a wholly-owned subsidiary will give Toll the opportunity to better integrate our operations within China and to off er a more seamless total logistics solution to our existing customers both within China and in a global setting,” said Toll managing director Paul Little.

“The Toll Group has for some time considered our Chinese logistics operations to be of strategic significance to Toll’s international business. We now have operations in over 50 countries globally and China is a critical element of our growth strategy.”

Among Toll’s key clients in China are FMCG manufacturers like Colgate Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson. Th e deal follows closely on the heels of Tolls’ acquisition of an equity stake in India-based BIC Logistics a week earlier.