Lufthansa Cargo seals the deal on time:matters

Lufthansa Cargo has completed its planned acquisition of time:matters, the time-critical international delivery specialist that it span off as a subsidiary in 2002 but in which it retained a 49% share.
The 51% balance has now been acquired from investor Aheim Capital and time:matters’ own management team.
In late July, Air Cargo News reported on the application made by Lufthansa Cargo to the German competition authority – the Bundeskartellamt – on July 15 to purchase all of the shares of time:matters .
Peter Gerber, chief executive and chairman of Lufthansa Cargo’s executive board, remarked: “time:matters has established itself in recent years as the leading specialist for sameday delivery and emergency logistics in Europe.
“With time:matters, we are aiming to grow our business in the special segment as well.
“Our focus is all about maximum reliability, exceptional service and customised solutions,” Gerber explained.
time:matters chief executive Franz-Joseph Miller added: “With its technology and service platform, hardly any other logistics company can match time:matters in terms of service and flexibility.
“Since 2006, we have more than tripled our revenue to over €65m euros.”
And Peter Blumenwitz, a partner at Aheim Capital, commented that the change is coming about after approximately “ten years of intensive cooperation with the time:matters management team”.
He described time:matters as “among the most innovative and creative in its industry and therefore represents an excellent platform for future airfreight logistics concepts for the Lufthansa Group”.
time:matters is expected to be operated as an independent concern.  It specialises in the movement of urgent spare parts, medical samples or important documents “quickly and reliably” via air, rail and road.
Exploiting opportunities
The cargo division of Germany’s flag-carrier has been no stranger to working with time:matters on express logistics and its decision to take over full ownership was said to be in line with Lufthansa’s ‘7 to 1: new concepts for growth’ strategy.
Lufthansa’s 7 to 1 strategic programme incorporates seven fields of action, which are expected to be applied across the group and individual business segments. One of them is ‘new concepts for growth’.
As well as the pertinent aspects of Lufthansa’s 7 to 1 strategy, Lufthansa Cargo is also working to a ‘Cargo Evolution’ programme.
Cargo Evolution involves cost-cutting, as evidenced by the June announcement that the freight carrier will cut 800 jobs around the world in order to make savings, but it also involves making it the world’s “number one carrier” for air cargo services.
As such, Lufthansa Cargo has not been afraid to invest in new products, such as td.Basic which will be available from next month (September) and the ‘myAirCargo’ service launched this month.