SINGAPORE - Postal service provider Singapore Post (SingPost) has entered into a conditional shares sale agreement with Yamato Asia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamato Holdings Co, to partially divest its stake in its associate company.

SingPost is selling 137,418,000 ordinary shares in GD Express Carrier (GDEX) for a total consideration of RM239.1 million or about S$78.4 million, it said in a statement on Thursday.

As at Jan 28, SingPost holds 290,735,386 ordinary shares in the issued share capital of GDEX representing about 23.3 per cent of the issued and paid up capital of the company.

SingPost said the deal is subject to the completion of the private placement of 124,893,548 ordinary shares to the Yamato Asia by GDEX, representing 9.09 per cent of the enlarged capital of GDEX.

Following completion of the conditional shares sale agreement, SingPost's stake in GDEX will be pared to 11.2 per cent.

In the statement, SingPost said: "The reduction in the stake will free up capital to allow the group to further invest in its e-commerce logistics operations across the region including its e-commerce logistics warehousing capabilities in Malaysia through its regional logistics arm Quantium Solutions."

SingPost said it will continue growing its networks in all South-east Asia markets.

"As the group has interlinked systems with GDEX, it will continue to be an important last mile delivery partner for SingPost's one stop integrated eCommerce logistics offering."

It added that the group's strategy is to continue to strengthen its integrated end-to-end e-commerce logistics solutions that include front end Web management, warehousing and fulfilment, last mile delivery and international freight forwarding.

SingPost is expected to recognise a net gain of about S$64million from the proposed disposal, after deducting the net asset value of the sale shares, professional fees, advisory fees and associated costs.