On the last day of the year, ABX Air became a wholly owned subsidiary of ABX Holdings, and the new company closed its purchase of Cargo Holdings International.

ABX, the principal air carrier in the United States for DHL, paid $332 million in cash, common shares and assumption of debt for the Orlando, Fla.-based air cargo service provider.

The final equity purchase price of the transaction consisted of $233 million in cash and four million shares of ABX Holdings common stock. ABX Air also assumed or repaid $73 million in outstanding net debt of CHI.

The combined fleet now includes more than 135 aircraft, the majority of which operate under contracts to provide airlift on behalf of DHL and BAX/Schenker in the United States and various other customers around the world.

The transaction is expected to increase value for ABX Holdings' shareholders because of the greater scale, breadth of service offerings, and market reach, said Joe Hete, president and CEO of ABX Holdings and ABX Air. CHI expects revenue to reach approximately $300 million in 2007 and to be accretive to ABX Holdings' earnings in 2008.