Fox family sees more bang for its buck in logistics

The Fox family has been trimming its stake in BoQ over the past year, to help fund the expansion of its logistics business. As BoQ launched a $340 million capital raising, Linfox yesterday sold about

8 million shares at $10 each.

The sale, raising $80 million, cuts Linfox's holding from about 4.5 per cent to less than 1 per cent.

Linfox initially acquired its holding in BoQ in 2001 after buying a 10 per cent stake from the Bank of Hawaii for

$40 million. At the time that represented an average entry price of $6.22 a share.

Linfox's executive chairman, Peter Fox, who recently took charge of the running of the family business from his father, said while Linfox had confidence in BoQ, the family was looking to invest in a number of logistics developments. Earlier this month Linfox announced a

$2 billion contract with National Foods.

It is also planning to expand further into China.

The sell-down "will give us a bit of spare gunpowder," Mr Fox said. "In these times you need a bit of spare capacity."