Nov 2, 2005 10:20 AM, from staff and wire reports

Versacold Holdings Corp, a unit of Versacold Income Fund, plans to acquire P&O Cold Logistics (POCL), a subsidiary of United Kingdom-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. This acquisition will establish North America's third-largest public refrigerated warehousing firm, according to Versacold.

Upon completion of the transaction, the fund will operate 74 facilities, 52 of which (70%) are owned. As part of the terms of sale, P&O will become a material stakeholder of Vancouver-based Versacold by taking back US $60 million in Versacold debentures.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2005, POCL had revenue of $503.8 million (Canadian), while Versacold tallied $179.8 million in revenue for that period.