Capital Finance: Acquisition of Viapost Logistique Connectée (VLC) by Log’s Group, advised by Septentrion Finance
26/11/2019
La Poste ultimately parts ways with Viapost Logistique Connectée (VLC), confirming its decision to remove the entity from its scope of activities. As its name suggests, VLC specializes in logistics for the e-commerce sector and is set to be acquired by competitor Log’s, a group led by northern French entrepreneur Franck Grimonprez, which reported revenue of €125 million in 2018.
The possibility of this sale had already been anticipated internally, with employee unions having expressed concerns over the potential social impact of a takeover. VLC was reportedly in a fragile financial position: according to La Lettre A, its revenue dropped from €97 million in 2017 to €91.6 million in 2018, with an operating loss nearing €11 million.
La Poste, which is said to have invested approximately €100 million in VLC since its creation in 2014 (following the acquisition of Morin and Orium), has agreed to sell the entity for a symbolic one euro. Additionally, the public group has committed to recapitalizing VLC by €55 million, including €25 million to cover operating losses over the next two years.
Septentrion Finance advised Log’s throughout this strategic transaction.
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Buy-side advisors:
- M&A: Septentrion Finance (Damien Barenne, Guillaume Dubois)
- Legal: Juridis Conseil (Stéphan Blavier, Philippe Duthoo)
- Financial due diligences: Eight Advisory (Frédéric Claquin)
Sell-side advisors:
- M&A: Société Générale CIB (Marc Dunoyer, Arnaud Dreuillet, Jonathan Sabbah, Sophie Lamaudie, Dorian Barthel)
- Legal: Vivien & Associés (Emmanuel Chauvet, Alexandra Arnould, Chloé Canal)
- VDD: Deloitte (Frédérique Chenevoy, Alexandre Prost)