Major French express operator Geodis is reportedly planning to buy smaller rival Tatex in itslatest acquisition that would continue the consolidation of the French CEP market.
According to French transport newspaper L’Officiel des transporteurs, Geodis is preparing anoffer for the company and Tatex employees were officially informed about the sale to Geodis onMonday January 17. The French transport workers union FGTE-CFDT has already warned that the dealmight result in closures of branches where there is overlapping between the two companies, thenormally well-informed publication reported.
Geodis did not respond to requests by CEP-Research to comment on the report.
Geodis, now owned by rail operator SNCF, is believed to want to buy the privately-owned expresscompany – a former subsidiary of La Poste – to strengthen its position in the French B2Bmarket.
Tatex (formerly known as TAT Express), with some 1,300 employees, is one of the major players inthe French B2B express parcels market. Formed in 1976, it was a leading domestic air expressoperator for many years and was bought in 1994 by La Poste as part of the latter’s expansion in theparcels market. In 2005, however, La Poste disposed of its majority stake to financial investorXAAP Finances.
The company delivers some 18 million parcels a year and had revenues of €160 million in 2007.More recent figures are not available. It operates a nationwide network of 35 branches, a nationalhub near Paris, handling about 60,000 parcels a day, and seven regional sorting centres. It has afleet of 650 vehicles. Its B2B services include next-day delivery by 13.00 and various optionalservices. In 2009, it entered the B2C sector with the launch of its Tatex@home service for distance-sellers and online retailers.
For Geodis, the acquisition would be the latest in a series over the last two years followingits takeover by SNCF in 2008. Backed by the financial resources of the state-owned rail operator,Geodis has taken over French express operator Ciblex, several small regional express firms, Giraud’s European road trucking activities, Italian logistics firm Bertola and IBM’s Global Logisticsbusiness.
In 2009, Geodis had revenues of €5 billion from its express parcels, freight transport andlogistics activities. In the first half of 2010, the groupage division, including Geodis Calberson,Geodis Ciblex and France Express, increased revenues by 15% to €821 million. The ‘messagerie’(express parcels) business, with 11,000 staff and 5,000 vehicles, generates about one third ofGeodis revenues and claims to have 25% of the French domestic express market by volume.
If the acquisition of Tatex takes place, Geodis would expand its B2B position and step upcompetition with the other two market leaders, La Poste (Chronopost and Exapaq) and TNT Express.Smaller domestic players in France include GLS, Ducros Express (formerly DHL Domestic) and Sernamwhile DHL Express, UPS and FedEx (as well as TNT and Chronopost) have strong positions in theFrench international market.
