Abris Capital Partners, the private equity fund manager that owns Urgent Cargus, is still trying to sell the business that posted EUR70 million revenue in 2016.
Information about a sale first surfaced at the beginning of this year and the officials of the private equity firm denied it at the time.
Cezar Scarlat, the Romanian executive in charge of Abris Capital’s operations in Romania, turned down ZF’s request for comment on Wednesday.
The potential suitors of Urgent Cargus at one time also included buyout investor Mid Europa Partners, which dropped out of the race, with three contenders now left, ZF has found.
Warburg Pincus has been looking into Romania’s real estate market so far. In its 50-year history, it has invested more than $60 billion in 700 companies in 40 countries. It currently manages $44 billion investments.
On the other hand, the Hungarian Post (Magyar Posta) is one of the biggest companies in Hungary, with about 30,000 employees, a fleet of 3,000 vehicles and 2,700 post offices.
Austrian Post has previously owned a Romanian courier service company, PostMaster, now held by Romanian entrepreneur Octavian Radu, Diverta chain owner.
Abris Capital bought Cargus International from Germany’s DHL, part of the Deutsche Post group, in 2013 and Urgent Curier owned by Corina and Sebastian Balasescu the following year. The firm later merged the two companies with other assets acquired in the sector, creating the second leading actor on its market, behind Romanian-held FAN Courier.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)