Tag: France

SNCF completes Geodis takeover

Posted by | Aug 15, 2008 | |

The EUR 600 million acquisition of freight logistics group Geodis by French rail operator SNCF has been completed with the delisting of Geodis shares from the Euronext Paris stock exchange. SNCF aims to create Europe’s fourth-largest transport and logistics group which will also be among the express market leaders in France.

SNCF, which already held 42.37 pct of Geodis’ share capital and 45.79 pct of voting rights prior to its offer, announced in early April it would offer EUR 135 per share to buy full control of Geodis. The offer, which ran through June and part of July, was supported by the Geodis board and overwhelmingly accepted by Geodis shareholders.

After increasing its holding to 98.40 pct of Geodis capital, SNCF then implemented a squeeze-out to buy the remaining shares on August 8 and Geodis shares were delisted from the Euronext Paris stock exchange on that day.

SNCF will combine Geodis, with 2007 revenues of EUR 4.8 billion, its rail freight division and several smaller transport subsidiaries, into a new group with 2008 revenues of some EUR 8 billion and about 50,000 employees. The new company will include Geodis Calberson, one of the leading express and parcels operators in France.

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Arab countries agree to start money transfer exchanges

Posted by | Aug 5, 2008 | |

In Geneva to attend the 24th Universal Postal Congress, the postal leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen signed an agreement that will see them start exchanging money transfers electronically.
As with other regional projects, the money transfer service relies on the UPU’s IFS application and international financial network.

Launched by the Arab League and implemented by a regional steering committee chaired by Emirates Post, the project, also supported by the French Post, will allow the postal operators involved to exchange money orders on a multilateral basis from now on.

The new service furthers the UPU’s efforts to improve access to secure and reliable money transfer services through formal channels for rural populations, and especially for migrant workers.

Explains Emirate Post’s Nasser Fathi Sadiq Qaddoumi, Chairman of the steering committee: The multilateral agreement is giving the Arab region – with some countries in Asia and others in Africa – a push to provide better services to migrant workers. For example, more than 80 pct of the United Arab Emirates population of 5.8 million people consists of foreigners, and the situation in other Gulf countries is not much different, says Qaddoumi.

Other Arab countries said they would join the regional network by the end of this year.

A similar regional project is expected to start next week with countries from North Eastern Africa.

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French E-Commerce

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

Online merchants in France took in EUR1 billion (USD 1.71 billion) during Q2 2008, according to the Association pour le commerce et les services en ligne (ACSEL) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
However, Q1 actually represents just a fraction of total French e-commerce—and less than one-quarter. Not only is Q4 the biggest of the year, but the ACSEL/PwC figure does not include online travel.
Another French trade group, the Fédération des entreprises de vente à distance (FEVAD), said that e-commerce sales in France will reach EUR 20.9 billion (USD 32.4 billion) this year. FEVAD includes both online travel and online B2B purchases.
The association projects e-commerce growth through 2010, when sales are expected to reach EUR 31.4 billion (USD 44.3 billion).

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Financial investor bids over EUR 500m for Seur controlling stake

Posted by | Aug 1, 2008 | |

British private equity company Doughty Hanson has bid more than EUR 500 million to buy a 52 pct majority stake in Spanish express parcels operator Seur in an offer valuing the company at about EUR 1 billion. DHL and UPS were apparently also interested in the company.
According to Spanish business newspaper Expansión, the UK financial investor has made the offer to a group of Seur franchisees who have decided to sell off their shareholdings in the group. The offer, valuing the whole company at EUR 1 billion, is thus worth about EUR 520 million.
Expansión, citing market sources, described the bid as “friendly” and said that Doughty Hanson was ready to work with other Seur shareholders, including La Poste subsidiary GeoPost, which owns a 19.6 pct share in the group.
The other Seur shareholders now have 45 days to decide whether to exercise their right to block the bid with a counter-offer of at least the same size, the newspaper wrote. Sources close to La Poste said that no decision has yet been taken about this, it added.
Seur, with revenues of EUR 665 million last year, has a complex, decentralised ownership structure comprising regional franchisees who also own small stakes in the parent company Seur SA. Seur has 85 franchisees in total controlled by 54 companies. The franchisees seeking to sell their holdings represent 52 pct of Seur capital, 65 pct of the franchises by number, and generate 5 pct of gross profits, according to the newspaper.

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