CMA CGM commits to acquiring Bolloré’s transport and logistics operations

Marseilles, France-headquartered ocean shipping and supply chain services provider CMA CGM Group has committed to acquiring the transport and logistics operations of Bolloré Logistics.

Final completion of the transaction remains subject to examination by employee representation, and then to the required regulatory approvals.

Should the acquisition go ahead, it would make the CMA CGM Group one of the top five players in global logistics, the group said.

The news that CMA CGM had tabled a bid thought to be worth around $5.5bn for the family-owned Bolloré Logistics was announced on April 18.

Now, Bolloré has accepted the proposal put forward by CMA CGM.

The combined operations of the CMA CGM Group’s current logistics activities and Bolloré Logistics would have a combined annual revenue of approximately $24 billion (based on 2022 results), CMA CGM estimates.

The combined entity would be able to move 800,000 tons of air freight a year, as well as have an annual sea freight shipping capacity equivalent to more than 2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

The CMA CGM Group already operates in more than 160 countries, and has a staff complement of 155,000 employees.

The Bolloré deal would add more than 14,000 new employees operating out of 350 offices across 63 different countries.

Plus, the Group’s warehouse space would increase by more than 900,000 sq m at 115 different warehouses, while the acquisition would also offer CMA CGM access to new logistics hubs, especially in France and Asia.

Furthermore, the addition of Bolloré Logistics to the CMA CGM Group and its current supply chain subsidiary, CEVA Logistics, would bring further expertise in high-value sectors, in air freight as well as sea freight shipping management, as well as in contract logistics.

Bolloré Logistics is particularly well known for its footprint in the luxury goods, fragrances and cosmetics, healthcare, aerospace and defence sectors, expertise that CMA CGM would welcome in its CEVA subisidiary.

The deal would be the largest involving the CMA CGM Group since it was founded in 1978, and would represent “a major strategic milestone in the Group’s development of its logistics activities, which the Group has been building since 2019 alongside the original CMA CGM shipping business”.

For CMA CGM, “This acquisition would represent a major step forward in its development of a full range of solutions supporting customers’ supply chains through handling end-to-end transport and logistics”, a statement added.