Austrian Post completed the sale of loss-making subsdiary trans-o-flex to its former owners on Friday (April 8) following approval by German competition authorities for the deal.
The new owners of trans-o-flex, which specialises in healthcare logistics and temperature-controlled deliveries, are two family groups, Amberger Familien GbR and Schoeller Holding, who acquired equal shares in trans-o-flex. They previously owned the company from 1995 to 1998.
Austrian Post decided to sell the company after years of weak results, managerial changes and turnaround strategies.
Austrian Post acquired trans-o-flex in 2007/08 in two stages for a total of €79 million as part of its regional expansion of its parcel and logistics activities. However, the company only had a book value of €49.4 million early last year following significant writedowns, including €38.9 million in 2014 and €27 million in 2013.
Trans-o-flex, with annual revenues of about €500 million, focuses on providing logistics and delivery solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and consumer electronics sectors in Germany through its business units covering rapid deliveries, temperature-controlled transportation and logistics services. It is the German partner in the Eurodis network which it founded in the 1990s.
But the company has been through turbulent times in recent years amid tough trading conditions. There have been several changes of management as Austrian Post tried to achieve a financial turnaround. Early last year a strategic review was launched, including a search for a potential investor. In February, Frank Iden, former head of Hermes Germany, took over as CEO.
Peter Amberger already said last month that trans-o-flex would focus in future more on the pharma industry and cooperate closely with his other company, Loxxess, which provides specialist contract logistics services for the pharma sector and other industries.
