In the midst of the war in Ukraine, the transport and logistics group Gefco (Groupage express de Franche-Comté) announced on Friday 1er April, the takeover of the 75% held by the Russian railway company RZD, placed under international sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine by troops from Moscow. The operation was carried out with the agreement of the supervisory board, chaired by Oleg Belozerov, CEO of the “Russian SNCF” since his appointment to this position by President Vladimir Putin in 2017.
A very ephemeral portage. Gefco has indeed specified, in a press release, that it will reveal “the evolution of the shareholder structure in the coming days”. And it is the Marseille-based CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container ship owner, which is to buy the group for an enterprise value of around 450 to 500 million euros, according to The echoes.
The transaction will include the 25% held by Stellantis. PSA Peugeot Citroën owned 100% of it in 2012. The new car manufacturer was not intended to remain a shareholder in this company with 11,500 employees (including 3,400 in France), which mainly transports cars and achieves a turnover of 4.2 billion euros in 2021.
External growth
On the other hand, CMA CGM was very interested in the context of its rapid development in logistics. Since the takeover of the Swiss Ceva Logistics in 2019, Rodolphe Saadé’s group has acquired a large port terminal in Los Angeles, most of the American Ingram Micro Commerce and Lifecycle Services (Ingram Micro CLS) or Private Parcel. Three external growth operations made possible by the huge profit made in 2021 (17.9 billion dollars, or 16.3 billion euros).
The war in Ukraine only precipitated a Russian disengagement from Gefco desired by Mr. Belozerov as soon as he was appointed head of RZD. His public company was placed under sanctions by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union for its participation in the Kremlin’s war effort (transport of military equipment, etc.).
“The war has brought about major difficulties” for its Russian subsidiary of 290 employees, which weighs only 2% of operating profit, admitted Luc Nadal, chairman of the management board of Gefco, in an interview with Echoes of March 24. And especially beyond. Because Gefco may be a company registered in France, the structure of its shareholding made, according to her, “extremely difficult” relations with customers and business partners in the 47 countries where the carrier operates.