BAX to Pay $76 Million for Distribution Services

Air freight giant BAX Global Inc. has agreed to acquire privately held Distribution Services Ltd. for $76 million as part of its strategy of expanding its worldwide services.

Irvine-based BAX, formerly Burlington Air Express, is best known for handling air shipments for big corporate customers such as General Motors and TRW. Lately it has been expanding more heavily into ocean freight and logistics management.

Distribution Services, with dual headquarters in South Gate and Hong Kong, had 1996 revenue of about $180 million. It is involved in ocean freight forwarding, contract distribution and logistics warehousing. It has major operations throughout the Pacific Rim, including a 16-acre terminal just outside the San Pedro port.

Distribution Services specializes in trade routes between Asia and North America but also ships to and from Latin America and Europe. Its 1996 revenue was about $180 million.

The acquisition “is part of BAX Global’s strategy to . . . significantly increase its presence in the growing ocean freight market,” said Malcolm Heath, a BAX senior vice president.

BAX has annual revenue of about $1.6 billion.