BAX Global to Be Sold, Journal Reports

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rink’s Co. is placing its BAX Global air cargo transportation and logistics unit up for sale, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

BAX Global moves heavy air cargo around the world, through its 500 offices in 133 countries, using its 18-plane air fleet as well as trucks and ships under contract, the Journal said.

The company’s headquarters is in Irvine, Calif., and its main U.S. air hub is in Toledo, Ohio.

BAX is No. 24 on the Transport Topics Logistics 50 of North American logistics firms. It has about 11,000 employees, and last year had sales of $2.4 billion.

The Journal reported the company has struggled to turn a profit, delivering a $56 million in operating profit in 2004 and a combined $21 million in profit in the two years before that.

Based on a rough 10-times price-to-cash flow multiple commanded by public logistics and trucking companies, BAX could fetch roughly $500 million, the paper reported.

Selling the transport unit would allow Brink's to focus more heavily on its home-security division, the nation's second largest, the Journal said.

That unit reported last year operating profit margins of 23.4%, far greater than the 3.6% delivered by BAX Global.

BAX Global is a corporate descendant of the Burlington Northern railroad, which created Burlington Air Freight that was purchased by Brink’s in 1982 and renamed BAX Global in 1997.