Itella Corporation announced plans to acquire the groupage logistics business of the Finnishrail-freight operator VR Group, to create synergies between the two national public companies
saving costs and streamlining operations.According to the letter of intent signed by Itella and VR Group yesterday, the groupage roadfreight revenues of VR Group’s logistics business VR Transpoint amount to €130 million, with morethan 800 employees. The acquisition aims at avoiding overlaps between the two state-owned Finnishcompanies.
The takeover will be effected through Itella Logistics with the acquisition process expected totake about three months. It also requires approval by the competition authorities. ItellaLogistics, with 7,100 employees, had revenues of €732 million last year.
VR Group is a broad-based Finnish transport company providing freight services and publictransportation, including rail and road transport. Its logistics division VR Transpoint offersexpertise in railway, groupage (LTL), mass goods (FTL) and international logistics with wide rangeof services, an extensive network and various electronic services. VR Group provides employment for11,500 workers in Finland and ten European countries.
“This is good for Finnish logistics operations because the extensive operations also involveefficiency benefits. Our in-depth research has shown that merging the companies’ functions willalso achieve advantages visible to the customers,” Jukka Alho, President and CEO of Itella,said.
“VR Transpoint will focus on mass goods logistics and its development both on railways and road.Giving up on groupage logistics is part of the change in VR Group’s strategy,” Mikael Aro,President and CEO of VR Group, explained.
The acquisition is similar to PostNord’s acquisition of Green Cargo Logistics, Sweden’ssecond-largest third-party logistics provider and part of Green Cargo, the country’s state-ownedrail freight operator, which was announced in March and approved this month.
