Birkart takeover adds Thiel's muscle

THE LUXEMBOURG-based Thiel Logistik has just taken over German logistics specialists, Birkart Globistics. This, said Thiel management, will allow the company to enter the fashion logistics sector - a speciality of Birkart - and to expand the combined company's activities in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia and Africa. "Thiel and Birkart complement each other," Birkart's SA m.d. Heiko Schmidt told FTW, "and Thiel has nothing in Africa. "We in SA are very much in line with their expectations, so I think it's tremendous." The take-over also adds extra muscle to Birkart's latest five-year development plan in SA, Schmidt added. "It's very positive for Thiel to take us in hand because it will add to our ability to meet our targets."