Four shareholders and the estate of a deceased shareholder will receive £2.4 million (#3 million) each following the sale of privately-owned Irish logistics and forwarding company IWT Worldwide Logistics.

TDG, a British-quoted supply chain solutions group, has agreed to pay £15 million for IWT Worldwide Logistics - £8.8 million in cash on completion of the deal and the balance in payments of roughly equal amounts in two instalments in July 2002 and July 2003.

Of that sum, £12 million will be paid to majority shareholders Mr Francis Scully, Mr Desmond McGarry, Mr Frank Finan, Mr Gus Danaher and to the estate of the late Mr Colm Byrne. Three minority shareholders, Mr Diarmuid Murphy, Mr Pat Brophy and Mr Eugene Mather, will receive £3 million between them.

IWT Worldwide Logistics is a new holding company into which the business and assets of several limited companies previously owned by Irish Warehousing & Transport Company have been transferred.

In the financial year to December 31st, 2000, IWT achieved a normalised operating profit of £1.2 million sterling (#2 million) on turnover of £44 million sterling. It has net assets of £1.3 million sterling.

IWT provides contract logistics services within Ireland and Britain, and international forwarding services. More than 70 per cent of its business is contract-backed and it has a substantial presence in the fastmoving consumer goods sector where its customers include Diageo, Marks & Spencer, Atlantic Industries and Nestle.

"The food and drink manufacturers which are customers of IWT are very much the type of customers we're seeking to work with across Europe," said Mr Paul Mainwaring, group financial director at IWT. "And we're attracted by the Irish economy which we think in logistics terms is going to be one of the fastest growing markets in Europe."

IWT operates from 11 sites - seven in Ireland, three in Britain and one in the Netherlands.

TDG said the acquisition made it one of the top three logistics service providers in Ireland and the leading player in the fast-moving consumer goods sector.