Business, Forwarding, Freight News

Panalpina could be takeover target, say analysts – updated

[ August 4, 2017   //   Chris ]

International freight forwarder Panalpina could find itself the subject of a takeover bid, say two city analysts in a report. David Kerstens and Hamish Dalgarno – respectively, equity analyst and equity associate at investment banker Jefferies International – say that the Swiss-based company’s performance has been below par lately, which could lead to one of the more flush operators attempting to buy it.

The analysts predict a general upsurge in mergers and acquisitions in the sector due to increasingly disparate financial performance among its leading players.

DSV and XPO Logistics have recently said they were interested in buying competitors, in what is still a very fragmented global market, they added.

They added that DSV has the best financial performance at the moment, with underlying earnings growing 54% in the first half of 2017, due to the successful integration of the UTi acquisition.

They add that Kuehne+Nagel has also met its earnings target since 2015, they said.

Meanwhile, French-based Geodis was reported by the new York Tines to be in talks to buy Ceva Logiatics. Current owner Apollo Global Management is seeking to sell its stake in the Netherlands-headquartered operator, they said.

Tags: DSV, Jefferies International, Kuehne + Nagel, Panalpina, XPO