Aug 4, 2006 8:50 AM, from staff and wire reports

Iceland-based transportation firm Avion Group Hf has made a bid to purchase Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust, Canada’s leading operator of refrigerated warehouses, for $574 million Canadian (US $510 million).

Through its 53 warehouses, Toronto-based Atlas Cold Storage supplies cold storage services.

Avion, which owns Air Atlanta Icelandic and Excel Airways, said its bid would be placed via its wholly owned logistics subsidiary, Eimskipafelag Islands EHF, one of Europe's biggest cold storage distribution networks. Avion intends to become a "key international player" in North American refrigerated transportation, the company said.