CMA CGM buys GEFCO

Rodolphe Saadé has helped out his friend Emanuel Macron ahead of Sunday’s presidential election in France.

The CMA CGM chairman has moved to acquire nearly 100% of GEFCO, an automotive logistics firm whose future had become clouded with uncertainty following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

France-headquartered GEFCO was 75% controlled by state-run Russian Railways, an entity that was quickly sanctioned five weeks ago as war got underway in eastern Europe. Founded in 1949 as Les Groupages Express de Franche-Comté (GEFCO), Russian Railways came onboard as majority shareholder 10 years ago.

GEFCO today is the number one European leader in finished vehicle logistics, and a top 10 global partner in multimodal supply chain solutions. It has a network spanning 47 countries and employs around 11,500 staff around the world – with more than 2,500 of them in France.

The acquisition announced today, thought to be worth around $488m, has been submitted to competition authorities for approval. However, as part of a special procedure, the European Commission has authorised CMA CGM to acquire the capital of GEFCO immediately, pending the final approval that will take place in the coming months.

“The acquisition will strengthen the range of logistics services that CEVA Logistics, CMA CGM’s logistics subsidiary, provides to its customers, especially in France and the rest of Europe,” rapidly diversifying CMA CGM stated in a release.

Saadé, the chairman and CEO of CMA CGM, commented: “The acquisition of GEFCO represents a further step in our development strategy and strengthens our position as a global player in transport and logistics. With GEFCO, our subsidiary CEVA will become the world leader in automotive logistics, having recently enhanced its capabilities in e-commerce logistics with the acquisition of Ingram Micro CLS. We are creating a French leader to serve our customers around the world.”