Aramex announced its acquisition of Fastway Limited (Fastway Couriers), a leading courier service provider in New Zealand for cAED293.650 million. Fastway Couriers' global network includes 63 regional depots and 1,500 courier franchisees across Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Northern Ireland and South Africa. With more than 250 franchise partners across New Zealand alone, the company transports 16 million parcels globally to 75,000 customers each year. The acquisition makes Aramex present in New Zealand for the first time and strengthens its existing operations in Australia (through e-commerce player MailCall, acquired in June 2014). Enhancing and expanding operations in the region also allows Aramex to further contribute to the development of Asia-Pacific’s e-commerce sector (New Zealand and Australia are two of the most rapidly growing e-commerce markets in the region) and facilitate cross-border trade, according to Aramex’s CEO and CEO Asia. The Asia-Pacific region is the largest e-commerce market in the world. Its total B2C e-commerce turnover reached USD770 billion, higher than Europe and North America. Asia-Pacific’s B2C e-commerce market is growing at a faster pace than other markets; +44% versus 14% for Europe and 12% for North America.   The transaction is in line with Aramex’s previously communicated plan to expand in Asia and to grow earnings through organic growth and acquisitions; this is essential in the current GCC economic environment, in our view. (company, Wafaa Baddour)