Dubai’s Aramex eyes 4-5 acquisitions by Q1 2011

• At least three deals before end-2010 - Aramex CEO
• Company has $100 mln to spend in next 2-3 yrs - CEO

DUBAI (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates courier firm Aramex is eyeing acquisitions in Africa and Asia, the company’s chief executive said last week.

Fadi Ghandour said the focus for acquisitions would be in southeast Asia, Africa and CIS countries.

“There’s going to be four to five acquisitions by Q1 2011 in Asia and Africa and at least three before year-end,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an entrepreneurship event in Dubai.

Ghandour said that Aramex had about $100 million in cash to spend in the next two to three years.

“We normally acquire third party logistics and freight forwarding and express (companies). We rarely acquire 100 percent of firms,” he said.

Shares in Aramex were trading 0.5 percent lower at 0702 GMT but the stock is 40 percent up this year.

In October, Aramex, which competes with global giants such as Fedex (FDX.N) and DHL [DHL.UL], said third-quarter profit rose 12 percent, falling slightly short of analyst expectations.