Abris CEE Mid-Market Fund II had bought Cargus in 2013 and, in 2015, Abris merged Cargus with one of its direct competitors, Urgent Curier, by capitalizing on the synergies between the two companies and rebranding the new business as Urgent Cargus.
Subsequently, Abris carried out five other acquisitions (TCE, CRX, Otto, Sprint and X-Curier). Clifford Chance Badea, the Bucharest office of the world’s leading law firm Clifford Chance, provided assistance to Abris Capital Partners with all these transactions, as well as throughout the acquisition of Urgent Cargus.
Urgent Cargus, the second leading courier services firm on the local market, has more than 2,000 couriers and delivers some 30 million packages annually. Urgent Cargus had a turnover of EUR85 million in 2017.
The transaction, which was signed Wednesday (September 26), is pending approval by Romania’s Competition Council and is due to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The Romanian courier services market reaches nearly EUR400 million and there is room for development, considering that this sector is much more developed in countries in the region. By comparison, Poland’s courier services market reaches EUR1 billion.
Operators in Romania expect the local courier services market to exceed EUR1 billion over the next five years and to head towards EUR1.5 billion, seeing an annual two-digit increase.
Abris Capital Partners is an independent private equity fund focusing on investments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Abris manages the capital of several most famous institutional investors in the world, including the funds of several prestigious universities, pension funds, insurance companies and private asset managers.
Over the last ten years, Abris has invested in local medium-sized companies, with a solid base and growth potential. Abris invests EUR30 to EUR70 million in such a company, usually by acquiring the majority stake. The companies included in Abris’ portfolio enjoy not only the access to additional capital, but also the expertise of an investment team in strategic and operational management.
Abris has carried out over 20 investments in Poland, Romania and other CEE countries since 2007.