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Just about a month ago, there were whispers about a potential acquisition deal between Japanese global logistics services company Nippon Express and Austrian logistics service provider Cargo-Partner, to buy the latter. The deal was sealed at around USD 743 million and will make the combined entity the 5th largest in the world (in terms of air cargo volumes). Together they will be able to handle around 1.2 million MT of cargo per year.
Both parties signed the paperwork on 12th May and will come into effect subject to the usual regulatory approvals in an estimated 4-7 months along with the subsequent closing. Cargo-Partner’s control was already passed onto Nippon’s management and their founder Stefan Krauter said that Nippon was an ‘ideal successor’ for Cargo-Partner.
“Leadership by agile founders bears some considerable advantages, but from a certain stage on, highly professional and long-term stable ownership is the bigger asset. It is the founders’ challenge and responsibility to decide about both management and ownership succession at the right time,” said Krauter.
Stefan Krauter, Founder, Cargo-Partner
Krauter added that Cargo-Partner will operate the same in regard to both organization and branding. He will support cargo-partner’s transition to its new owner through a new role on the Corporate Supervisory Board and as an advisor to the Corporate Executive Board. However, both organisations will benefit from considerable synergies in global office coverage, an expanded service portfolio, strengthened regional, product and IT know-how, increased scale and others.
Last month, Nippon Express said “no particular facts have been decided” after media reports surfaced speculating about the acquisition. cargo-partner also said at the time that the future of the company “is not limited to a wholly or partial change of controlling ownership”. Subsequently, last week, Nippon made a statement that said that the acquisition supports its goal to become “a logistics company with a presence in the global market”.
The company plans to target business growth through the acquisition by strengthening its network and services in Europe by supplementing logistics business in the Central and Eastern Europe region, and strengthening its competitiveness in global markets through an increase in air and sea forwarding volume.
The takeover will also strengthen Nippon’s ability to meet the logistics demand between Asia and Europe, along with creating and developing overall synergies between its logistics businesses.
