Romania’s Competition Council gave RTC Holding, one of the largest distribution and retail groupsin Romania, the green light to take over Romanian major courier company Curiero and its
subsidiaries Curiero Express and Curiero Spedition, according to Mediafax News Brief Service.The Council confirmed that the transaction does not breach competition rules. RTC Holdingwill operate the parcel and freight transport services of Curiero through its existing subsidiaryTCE Logistica, another Romanian major courier operator.
Two months ago, TCE and Curiero announced plans to merge their businesses in order tostrengthen their competitive position targeting combined revenues of €30 million this year. TCE,the smaller of the two companies, yet financially a stronger one, recorded revenues of €11 millionlast year while Couriero had revenues of €14 million.
RTC Holding includes seven additional business divisions, namely Diverta (book retail, videogames, music, film, IT and stationery), Proffice (office and IT products distribution), ProCA (ITproducts distribution), Rafar (clothing retail, footwear and cosmetics franchise industry), Flaro(furniture and office products), RTC Imobiliare and Sistec-SBsol (software development).
There have been several major transactions in the Romanian CEP market this year, includingDHL’s acquisition of Cargus, GeoPost’s purchase of a 80% stake in Pegasus and the UPS buyout oflocal partner TCS. The Romanian courier services market is estimated at €200 million.
