HDN acquires DHL’s UK domestic operations

Home Delivery Network Limited (HDN) has reached agreement with Deutsche Post DHL to acquire its UK domestic B2B and B2C parcel delivery operations, DHL Domestic. The combined businesses will have annual sales of more than £600m and will deliver more than 180m parcels a year.

The combination of HDN and DHL Domestic will create a sustainable delivery business in which customers will continue to experience high quality standards of service while benefiting from a broader product offering, said HDN in a statement.

HDN believes that the two businesses will be ideally positioned to exploit the continued growth in a sector that is being driven by the expansion of e-commerce in which there is increasing overlap between B2B and B2C customers.

HDN will continue to provide best-in-class service for the combined customer base. Their increased scale will result in a more efficient business that will be capable of withstanding intensifying competition from a wide range of traditional B2C and B2B carriers, as well as challenging the Royal Mail more effectively.

This transaction will provide greater security to its customers, people and other partners. There will be a sizeable investment from HDN to ensure that the businesses will achieve their long term prospects. DHL Domestic will continue to trade under the DHL Domestic name until the two businesses are fully integrated.

The transaction does not include DHL’s UK International Time Definite and Same Day express services. DHL’s other UK businesses DHL Freight, DHL Global Forwarding, DHL Supply Chain, DHL Global Mail and Williams Lea are unaffected by this move.

Brian Gaunt, HDN chief executive, said: “This transaction is great news for customers of both HDN and DHL Domestic. The growth of e-commerce has transformed our marketplace and with it the demands of our customers. Combining these businesses will enable us to offer our clients a wider variety of propositions and a more efficient service. However our immediate focus will be to maintain the exceptionally high standards of service that our customers have come to expect from both businesses.”

Ken McCall, CEO of DHL Express UK, said: “It was important to us to divest our own parcel business to a company that we can trust. HDN is a strong and well-respected player in the B2C field and thus ideally complements the B2B focused services we currently offer. This will certainly create an unrivalled service for all UK domestic parcel customers. We remain committed to ensuring our domestic parcel customers receive DHL’s usual high standards of service and will work closely with HDN to ensure a smooth transition process. It will absolutely be business as usual for these customers.”

The transaction was agreed today (5 January) and is subject to clearance by the appropriate regulatory bodies.