Tag: Geopost

GeoPost buys another Seur franchisee

GeoPost, the La Poste Group express subsidiary, has continued its expansion in Spain with the acquisition of another franchisee of leading express firm Seur.

GeoPost-Seur, the French-Spanish joint venture, bought the franchisee in the Granollers region, near Barcelona, for an undisclosed sum, Spanish media reported citing a company press release. The Granollers company, Osvalma S.A., with about 60 employees, has annual turnover of about euro 20 million.

This is the sixth acquisition of a Seur franchisee and leaves GeoPost-Seur, in which GeoPost holds 60%, with an unchanged stake of 18.68% in the overall Seur Group. Most of the other Seur franchisees comprise the remaining group’s shareholders but Osvalma did not own any Seur shares.

Seur, with turnover of euro 574 million in 2005, is one of the leading express companies in Spain, which is one of the five largest CEP markets in Europe and is growing at a strong single-digit rate, according to CEP-Research information.

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GeoPost subsidiary Armadillo expands Russian network

The Russian parcels and freight logistics group Armadillo, a GeoPost subsidiary, said it has opened six new branches in key regions over the first half of 2006 to further expand its network.

Three branches are located in Siberia (Barnaul, Krasnojarsk, Osmk), one in the Volga region (Saratov), and two branches in the Far East (Charabarovsk and Wladiwostok). The openings give the company a total of 22 branches throughout all the regions of the Russian Federation, from the North-West to the Far East, Armadillo said in a statement.

Each new branch incorporates an office and operating terminal, including handling equipment and IT technology linking all branches. Each branch covers about 500 sqm and has capacity to handle up to 2,000 parcels per day.

“In the next five years, the Russian logistics market will experience a tremendous boom thanks to the biggest Western retailers,” explained Sergey Kruglov, director general of the Armadillo Group. “After opening branches in Moscow and St. Petersburg, they are capturing the market in further regions of Russia where they require the same quality they guarantee to their customers in Moscow, Europe and all over the world. Russian companies will certainly try to capture the regional market where the demand for transportation services is very high,” he added.

The Armadillo Group, which is jointly owned by GeoPost and its Turkish partner, Yurtici Kargo, offers courier, express, parcel and freight transportation within Russia and internationally, including the Bizpak just-in-time delivery service. It plans to expand its network further later this year.

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DTDC at centre of Indian consolidation speculation

Indian parcels company DTDC is at the centre of speculation over the next phase of consolidation in the country’s express and parcels industry. DTDC is the third-largest domestic express and parcels operator in India according to the forthcoming “CEP Market Fact Sheet India” from CEP-Research.

The Economic Times newspaper has reported that GeoPost may acquire a 10% stake in the company in a transaction under which founder and majority owner Subhasish Chakraborty would reduce his holding from 60% to 50%. The newspaper quoted Chakraborty as saying that he is in talks with several international players but he declined to give any more details.

Financial investor Reliance Capital, part of the Anil Ambani Group, bought a 40% stake in the Bangalore-based company earlier this year, and Chakraborty has said in the past that he aims to grow through acquisitions. The company recently signed a cooperation deal with Hong Kong-based Kerry Logistics for India-China services.

The Economic Times also reported that Reliance Capital might attempt “a game-changing deal” by trying to buy cargo company Gati though DTDC. But Gati senior executives denied the company was up for sale, saying they were only considering selling a minority stake.

The fast-growing Indian express and parcels market is increasingly attracting foreign investment. DHL is set to take full control of its Indian subsidiary, Blue Dart Express, and TNT announced at the start of the month that it is buying road express company Speedage.

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GeoPost may pick 10% in DTDC

Geopost of France may pick up 10% stake in Bangalore-based courier and express company DTDC, in which Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Capital holds 40%.

Subhasish Chakraborty, chairman and managing director of DTDC, who along with his family, currently holds 60% and management control, is expected to dilute stake to 50%.

Mr Chakraborty told ET said he is in talks with a few international players for a tie-up. But he refused to divulge further details.

One of the three leading players in the domestic industry, DTDC is steadily increasing its foreign presence. It has already set up its own network in all Saarc countries, the US and the UK. Recently, it tied up with a Pakistani company ACB Care, and signed an agreement with the Chinese Kerry Logistics, to foray into two growing markets in terms of India’s bilateral trade.

DTDC now enjoys a network of 3,700 centres comprising franchisees and own offices, and clocked revenues of Rs 125 crore on standalone basis during last financial year, and Rs 250 crore cumulatively with franchisee revenues. DTDC now aims to grow to Rs 500 crore revenues by ’10.

Sources said DTDC is also looking at taking over small regional players to grow in the domestic market. It had initiated negotiations with Mumbai-based Speedage Express Cargo Services, but Speedage was subsequently taken over by TNT last week. Sources said DTDC would soon announce a few mergers that will propel the company into the top league in the domestic market.

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GeoPost extends DPD network to Kazakhstan

The DPD network has been extended to Kazakhstan with the creation of the new joint venture, GeoPost Caspian. The expansion move is designed to take account of rising parcel volumes to the Eurasian region.

GeoPost Caspian was founded as a joint venture between local parcel operator Globalink in Kazakhstan and the Turkish DPD franchisee GeoPost Yurtici Kargo Servisi. The new company is the DPD franchisee for Kazakhstan.

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