3PLs Ring in 2005 With Acquisitions

Dec. 30, 2004
U.K.-based third party logistics provider (3PL) Wincanton announced it would acquire the German high-tech logistics company midiData for £7 million ($13.4 million) in cash

U.K.-based third party logistics provider (3PL) Wincanton announced it would acquire the German high-tech logistics company midiData for £7 million ($13.4 million) in cash. Exel, also headquartered in the U.K., said it had acquired Sociedade de Distribuição e Logistica Lda (SODILOG), a Portuguese pharmaceutical logistics provider based in Lisbon. Meanwhile, the Danish logistics company, DFDS, announced it had acquired a Balkan transportation and logistics company, Eurosped.

Britain’s Wincanton combined its recent acquisition with its existing high-technology business and will operate it under the brand name Wincanton midiData. The acquired company has 12 locations in Germany and four in the U.K. It has concentrated its efforts on site delivery, electrical work, disagnostics and wiring, primarily for PABX and switching equipment, according to Transport Intelligence, and boasts a customer list that includes Canon, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens, GE, De La Rue, Ericsson and Unisys.

Estimated revenues for the company are $70 million.

Exel’s acquisition of SODILOG extends the 3PL’s healthcare logistics services into the Portuguese market and provides a platform to reach further into the Iberian Peninsula. SODILOG provides temperature-controlled storage and distribution. Exel’s other recent acquisitions in the healthcare sector include operations in Australia, Brazil, Turkey, Belgium and Italy.

Transport Intelligence points out that Exel’s U.K. rival in the healthcare logistics sector, Healthcare Logistics, was recently acquired by the German pharmaceutical company Celesio. Celesio had also acquired Ser Pharma, an Iberian pharmaceutical logistics company.

In other news, Exel has invested £1 million ($1.92 million) in new rail freight equipment at the U.K.’s Daventry International Railport. The terminal had been owned by Tibbett & Britten prior to Exel’s acquisition of that company.

Elsewhere in Europe, Danish logistics company DFDS acquired Eurosped, a Balkan transportation and logistics operator serving the Slovenian market. Eurosped also operates subsidiaries in Croatia and Serbia. Eurosped had already operated with DFDS as its agent in Slovenia.

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