Leading Central European private equity advisor, Innova Capital, has announced the sale of all its shares in PEKAES, a logistics operator, to the French company GEODIS. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Since Innova Capital joined the company at the end of 2015, PEKAES has recorded a significant increase in value. Thanks to the economies of scale and increasing efficiency, the company's EBITDA increased by over 100 percent during this period. The focus was on the development of groupage cargo (LTL), which is of key importance to the company, and on increasing revenues from intermodal transport, which in both cases have doubled since the fund's entry. Currently, PEKAES is developing thanks to its strong market position, with nearly 5 million pallet places transported in the groupage network per year. Moreover, the constant increase in the volume of groupage transport at the level of 13 percent (the average annual growth rate in 2015-2020) confirms the good prospects of the company for the future.

“The success of PEKAES business transformation and the company's impressive expansion on the Polish and international logistics market, which aroused the interest of GEODIS, would not have been possible without the hard work of the Innova Capital team and the company's management. I am very grateful to them for their commitment and initiative. Together, we have built a ‘heavyweight’ logistics operator, and its strength and resilience is demonstrated by how well the company is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has a negligible impact on today's results,” Krzysztof Kulig, Senior Partner at Innova Capital, said.

“The acquisition is a big step towards consolidating GEODIS 'presence in a region that we consider strategic for the development of our Group. PEKAES has an excellent geographic reach and the company's team is highly appreciated for its professionalism. Complementary customer portfolios and combined competences will allow us to offer Polish companies a wide range of international services. Our clients will be able to benefit from PEKAES experience in Poland, which is the third largest logistics market in Europe. We are glad to welcome all PEKAES employees and management to the GEODIS family," Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO GEODIS, added.

(WBJ)