A-Sonic Aerospace unit to buy majority stake in JGL Worldwide’s parent to grow Asean footprint

[SINGAPORE] Mainboard-listed A-Sonic Aerospace , via its subsidiary A-Sonic Logistics, will acquire an aggregate equity interest of 60 per cent in 3DC Solutions for S$15.2 million, announced the logistics and aviation group on Monday (Aug 3).

The move, expected to be completed on Oct 1, marks the beginning of the group’s next phase of growth to solidify its foothold in South-east Asia, chief executive and chairperson Janet Tan told The Business Times in an exclusive interview before the announcement.

3DC Solutions owns logistics and freight forwarding group JGL Worldwide; JGL Investment; and 3DC Investment.

Some 1.5 million new ordinary shares will be issued to A-Sonic Logistics for an aggregate cash consideration of S$6 million; while the three 3DC Solutions shareholders will divest nearly 2.4 million existing ordinary shares for S$9.2 million.

JGL Worldwide’s chief executive Daniel Lim will put up some one million shares worth around S$4.1 million while chairman Desmond Gay and chief operating officer David Hia will each put up 666,446 shares worth around S$2.6 million.

Doubling down on Asean

A-Sonic expects the move to triple its Asean sales to US$94 million from US$30.3 million, and grow the region’s share of group turnover to 32.1 per cent from 13.2 per cent.

The move will expand A-Sonic’s network from 28 cities across 14 markets to 34 cities across 16 markets – with the addition of Phnom Penh in Cambodia; Haiphong in Vietnam; and Jakarta, Surabaya, Central Java Semarang and Batam in Indonesia.

Tan noted that sales enquiries have surged over the past six months for South-east Asia trade lanes from both new and existing customers in Europe, North America and within Asean.

Existing customers engaged in the semiconductor, manufacturing, healthcare, and fashion garments industries asked the group to serve as a one-stop-total logistics solutions provider within Asean, especially in the facilitation of more complicated customs clearance procedures in countries such as Vietnam or Cambodia, said A-Sonic.

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Tan added that there is also a strategic fit: the A-Sonic group is stronger in air freight forwarding while JGL group is stronger in ocean freight forwarding.

What’s in it for JGL?

Gay, a former Keppel Logistics CEO, told BT the move comes as the JGL group looks to diversify its global presence and grow its reach closer to home.

More than three-quarters of JGL group’s estimated revenue breakdown for FY2025 came from ocean freight forwarding, followed by the trading of paper and forestry products (12 per cent); air freight forwarding (6 per cent) and land freight forwarding and warehousing (5 per cent).

It operates 12 branch offices across six South-east Asian countries.

Singapore accounted for nearly half of the group’s revenue in FY2025, followed by Vietnam at 17 per cent; Indonesia at 11 per cent; Cambodia and Thailand at 9 per cent each; and Malaysia with the remaining 6 per cent.

Gay continued: “It’s timely for us to have this opportunity to grow and to have a partner that can help us fund some of the very juicy projects that we have in the pipeline.”

One of JGL group’s upcoming ventures includes the ongoing development of a chemical tank depot in Ho Chi Minh City, on a site of about 10,000 square metres. Once completed, it will be the biggest such facility in the Vietnamese capital, alongside two other existing facilities there, he told BT.

The JGL Worldwide chairman added: “The other thing that we wanted to do is build our capabilities across other trade lanes like Europe and intra-Asia. But, to do that, we need to set up offices instead of relying on agents.”

JGL Worldwide only has offices in South-east Asia, and relies on agents in China, the US and Europe, he noted. But the A-Sonic group has offices in Australia, Canada, China, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the US.

Acquisitions underway

A-Sonic has three business segments: aviation, information technology (IT) and logistics.

Under the aviation arm, it purchases and sells aircraft engines and components. On the logistics side, it provides supply chain management services and solutions.

IT is a new area of business for the group. A-Sonic Aerospace, via a wholly owned subsidiary, acquired on Jul 1 a 55-per-cent stake in IT firm RES Malaysia.

Asked if more acquisitions can be expected, Tan replied that this is only the beginning of A-Sonic’s transformation but that, as a rule of thumb, the company will likely not make more than three acquisitions a year.

“Now that we will have a stronger Asia… we will have a stronger product in terms of export, so it’s important that we strengthen the import side,” she added, caveating that it will not rule out opportunities that come at the right time.

The completion of its deal with 3DC Solutions is subject to approval by A-Sonic Aerospace’s shareholders. Tan is the company’s largest shareholder, owning as at end-May some two-thirds of outstanding shares.

A-Sonic Aerospace called for a trading halt on Monday, pending the release of its announcement. The counter was flat at S$0.47.