Competition authorities in France have formally approved Geodis’ takeover of insolvent rival Sernamseven months after the acquisition went through.
The French competition authority (‘L’Autorité de la concurrence’) announced this week thatit has approved the acquisition by Geodis division Calberson of most of Sernam’s parcel deliverybusiness without any conditions.
The authority said that after analysing the impact of the takeover it concluded that this wasnot likely to have an adverse effect on competition in the markets concerned.
In the B2B domestic express sector specifically, it found that the relatively high marketshares of the new entity in the category of shipments over 30 kg were such as to be limited by thecounterweight of purchasers, as well as the reaction capacity of competitors.
The authority found that the main competitors had residual production capacities and alsothat Geodis was not the only player able to meet the needs of customers in this market, since mostof these were considered to have strong negotiating power vis à vis their haulers and generallyusing 2 or 3 providers to secure their flow.
On April 13 this year, the French commercial court at Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris,formally accepted a €750,000 joint offer from Geodis and its minority holding BMV for the bulk ofSernam’s business. Under the takeover, Calberson took over about 800 of Sernam’s 1,440 staff andmost of its 52 depots and has integrated them into its network in recent months.
Geodis confirmed its offer for Sernam after the European Commission decided that anyinvestor would not have to repay €642 million in state aid provided to Sernam in the mid-2000s.Sernam, with revenues of €298 million in 2011, had been heavily loss-making for years and declaredinsolvency at the start of this year.
