SINGAPORE - Singapore Post said on Wednesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Quantium Solutions (Australia) is acquiring 100 per cent of Couriers Please Holdings, an Australia-based parcel delivery company, from New Zealand Post Group for A$95 million (S$105.3 million).

SingPost said the acquisition of the last-mile delivery company is in line with its vision of becoming a regional leader in ecommerce logistics.

CouriersPlease is one of Australia's leading metropolitan small-parcel delivery businesses, said SingPost. It has extensive national coverage, a low-cost network and operates an asset-light franchisee model, with depots located primarily in eastern and southern Australia, comprising the majority of the Australian delivery market.

CouriersPlease has a network of 575 franchisees nationwide and handled nearly 11 million consignments in its 2014 financial year. Its revenue for the year ended June 30, 2014, was more than A$100 million.

Said Mr Kok Peet Leong, Pacific regional director of Quantium Solutions International: "Australia is an advanced market for ecommerce and we see good growth potential as regional emerging markets open up and further engage in ecommerce. With our end-to-end solutions, Quantium Solutions aim to enable large overseas brands as well as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia to participate in ecommerce in Asia Pacific."

Asia Pacific, which accounts for nearly a third of all B2C e-commerce sales globally, is expected to lead growth in the share of worldwide spend online with a 16.7 per cent growth in year 2016, SingPost said, quoting figures from eMarketer.

Australia has seen B2C sales growing at a rapid pace. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian consumers spent in excess of A$10 billion - at least A$6.23 billion on overseas purchases and A$ 4.55 billion on domestic purchases - on online purchases in financial year 2012.

The B2C e-commerce sales in Australia for 2016 is expected to grow to US$31.24 billion (A$36.8 billion).