French parcel service on block
The French state railway company, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français, said Wednesday, Nov. 24, it was inviting bids from logistics operators for wholly owned parcel delivery service Sernam SA.
The Paris-based train operator said its 44%-owned logistics company, Géodis SA, intended to bid, and that accordingly, Géodis executive chairman Pierre Blayau was being suspended from the SNCF board.
The auction is the latest step in the consolidation of European logistics businesses.
The seller would not say which investment bank is organizing the auction.
The Sernam sale will represent the latest piece of consolidation among European logistics companies as they strive to extend services beyond national borders.
KarstadtQuelle AG, the Düsseldorf-based department store and mail-order company, is also auctioning off its logistics division. And in June, Stockholm-based private equity firm Nordic Capital sold Sweden’s Wilson Logistics Group for 2.35 billion Swedish kroner ($343.13 million) to express logistics firm TPG NV of Hoofddorp, Netherlands.
The European Commission approved a €503 million ($658 million) state aid package for Sernam Oct. 20, but insisted the company must refocus its activities over the coming two years on express parcels delivered by rail and not use the aid to attack the road-delivered parcels sector.
Sernam, based in Paris, was split out from the main passenger and freight activity of SNCF in 1970. Last year it had revenues of €414 million. It has 55 agencies across France, employs 3,000 people and has 650 regular road runs every day in addition to dedicated rail parcel services.
Three-quarters of Sernam’s business is in France, where it also handles newspaper distribution. But it generates a quarter of revenues through tie-ups with international carriers in the EuroExpress network.
Paris-based Géodis, meanwhile, is a global express parcels service and logistics group quoted on Euronext Paris with a market value of €457 million. Last year it made net profit of €22.1 million on revenues of €3.21 billion.
SNCF was emphatic that it aimed to find an industrial buyer rather than a private equity firm to acquire Sernam.
Meanwhile, KarstadtQuelle’s logistics sale, with which the Sernam auction coincides, will reportedly be conducted in three separate deals.
Though state-backed post office Deutsche Post AG was seen as the leading suitor for all the components, KarstadtQuelle this week sought additional bids, hinting Post’s €300 million offer wasn’t high enough.
The businesses, which handle storage and delivery activities for the group, boast sales of well over €3 billion. KarstadtQuelle, hurt by stagnant sales and failed expansion efforts, is shedding the operations as part of a wider revamp.
Privately held German logistics group Fiege is also bidding for some of the assets, as is Swiss delivery heavyweight Kuehne + Nagel International AG.
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