Ceva is to acquire Wincanton in a deal valuing the UK supply chain stalwart at £567m ($719m), a premium of around 52% above yesterday’s share price.
Wincanton’s board will recommend shareholders accept the CMA CGM subsidiary’s cash offer of £4.50 per share.
CMA CGM CEO Rodolphe Saade said: “Wincanton’s renowned expertise in designing supply chain solutions for customers in the retail, grocery, e-commerce, construction, infrastructure, energy and defence sectors would enable Ceva to further diversify its contract logistics customer base.”
Last March, Wincanton lost its contract to operate HMRC’s inland customs facilities, which saw its share price tumbling from £3.09 to as low as £1.92 later that month.
The offer from Ceva follows a four-year restructuring of the century-old UK logistics business, which included the sale of its container haulage division to Maritime Transport in 2020.
Wincanton’s chief executive, James Wroath, said the offer by Ceva would allow the company to “continue, and accelerate, the progress” it had made since the start of the decade.
Mr Wroath added: “I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made at Wincanton over the past four years, thanks to our great people and customers. We’ve strengthened our business and ensured we are at the forefront of logistics innovation.”
The company’s most recent accounts, dated March 2023, indicate that consolidated income saw a major drop, to £15.2m in FY2023, versus £80.7m the year before, as Wincanton faced tapering retail volumes and inflation.
Even so, it secured an upturn in revenue over the period, from £1.42bn to £.146bn, after landing contract expansions with from UK government departments and BAE Systems.
The deal will mean a lot of work at Ceva Logistics, which is also set to integrate Bollore Logistics.