Japan Post to sell part of Australia logistics business, book US$645m loss

[TOKYO] Japan Post Holdings has decided to sell part of Australian logistics arm Toll Holdings' business to an investment fund and book a special loss of US$645.46 million, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Japan Post will sell the operations in Australia and New Zeland to Australia's Allegro Funds for about 1 billion yen (S$12.2 million) and assume billions of dollars worth of debt, the Nikkei reported.

Japan Post was not immediately available for comment. The company is set to make an announcement on Wednesday, the Nikkei said, adding that most of the extraordinary loss, for the year ended in March, would be offset by tax reductions from other factors.

In 2015, the Japanese company acquired Toll for US$5.05 billion, making an ambitious bet to diversify overseas. But two years after the deal, it had to write down the bulk of Toll's value due to its weak performance.

Toll reported a A$10 million (S$10.3 million) operating loss for the nine months ended December 2020.

REUTERS