French transport and logistics company, Geodis has reached an agreement with the American investment firm Innova Capital for the acquisition of Pekaes, an LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) and FTL (Full-Truckload) network operator in Poland.
"This acquisition is a major step forward to consolidate Geodis’ presence in this region, which we consider strategic for the Group’s development," said Marie-Christine Lombard, Geodis CEO, who added that the complementary customer portfolios and the combined capabilities of the two companies "will allow [Geodis and Pekaes] to offer Polish companies extensive international opportunities, while customers will benefit from PEKAES’s expertise in Poland, which is the third-largest logistics market in Europe."
Pekaes was established in 1958 and operates one of the leading FTL and LTL network in Poland for palletised freight. With 20 branches covering the whole country, it handles all the national and international flows of some 10,000 active customers. The company also carries out, intermodal road-rail transport operations and offers additional logistics services on six dedicated sites, while it employs around 1,200 people.
The polish logistics operator will join Geodis Road Transport line of business and Olivier Royer, Geodis' executive vice president for Road Transport, commented, "With this operation, Geodis will also gain access and develop intermodal service offering in Poland and neighboring countries."
The transaction will take effect after completion of the usual regulatory formalities, while financial details have not been revealed yet.
"The scale of Pekaes's success, transformation and bold expansion on the challenging Polish and international logistics market could not have been possible without the hard work of the Innova Capital team and the company’s management," said Krzysztof Kulig, senior partner at Innova Capital and went on to highlight, "Together, we have built a logistics heavyweight, and the strength and resilience of the business were demonstrated by the negligible impact of the pandemic on current results."
