November 14 - Shipping and logistics group DFDS will acquire all the shares in the Dutch logistics company Alphatrans Group.

The deal will add new countries to the DFDS network, expertise in special transports and create synergies within the DFDS group.

Alphatrans is a Netherlands-based company specialised in the transport of long, wide, high and heavy loads. With 197 employees and a fleet of 720 trailers and 125 trucks, it is one of the largest flatbed trailer operators serving mainland Europe, the UK and Ireland. The company has offices in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Ireland as well as in Hungary, Romania and Portugal, where DFDS has not previously been represented.

"Alphatrans is a very well operated company with a good customer base and a strong and good reputation and is a perfect match for DFDS. The deal reinforces DFDS's specialist transport business and enables us to offer customers transport to and from new countries, which is in line with DFDS strategy of extending our network through growth and acquisitions," says Eddie Green, executive vice president and head of DFDS' Logistics Division.

"With Alphatrans' transport operations to and from the UK, we will be able to further develop our network in the UK-Continent trade to benefit customers," he adds.

DFDS says that it has been developing traffic which specifically requires flatbed trailers, particularly between Sweden and the Baltics, and Alphatrans brings additional knowledge to enable further development across the DFDS network.

The transaction is subject to approval by the German competition authority and closing is expected to take place before year-end 2017 after which the Alphatrans Group will be consolidated in the DFDS Group.

 

www.dfds.com

www.alphatrans.eu