DKTrans on the road in France with Nexia

Paris – May 19 2007 – DKTrans – a pan-European logistics provider offering dedicated logistics services for the food, retail and dairy industry – announced today it has acquired the majority of assets of Nexia Froid S.A., the leading food logistics provider in France, following the period of insolvency protection beginning January 1st, and commenced business operations under the new name of Ebrex France SAS on May 1.

DKTrans originated from the partnership between Ebrex Group, a Rotterdam headquartered general cargo, food logistics and recondition service provider with about € 300 million turnover p.a. and over 600 employees as the operational partner, and Cavenham Private Equity & Directs as the financial partner, which has identified the food logistics sector as an attractive, less commoditized niche within the logistics industry.

Ebrex Group
Ebrex Group serves clients requiring integrated general cargo as well as food logistics solutions through 25 logistics facilities in 11 countries. Its subsidiaries Seabrex, Ebrex Food Services, Ebrex European Logistics, Heuer (Germany) offer the complete range of logistics services incl. sea and air freight, European land transport as well as the complex handling of food, fruit and vegetable products, imported from overseas (America, Africa) into Europe.
Ebrex’s offices in the Netherlands are located in the port of Rotterdam, at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, in Poeldijk, in Tilburg, Waalwijk and Barendrecht. Outside the Netherlands, Ebrex offices are found in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, Ireland and South Africa.
The company seeks further expansion of its European network to improve and extend the service to its clients and is in advanced negotiations with two food logistics companies in Germany and Switzerland respectively about integrating their business.

In order to better serve customers across the European continent to date a link had been missing in DKTrans´ European road transport network to the traditionally strong food producing countries like France, Spain and Portugal. Customers are increasingly demanding more complex supply-chain solutions to be fulfilled by reliable, cost- and time-effective partners to meet higher food safety industry standards such as HACCP and support complete transparency of the food supply chain to their customers.
Ebrex France is well equipped to fully meet these customer expectations, now operating 21 warehouse sites with a total staff of 1425 employees, roughly 900 trucks just in France and is eager to further improve service quality and customer satisfaction with advanced transport management tools accessible from the customer´s desk and provide logistics management competencies even beyond French borders.

Within DKTrans, Ebrex France will play a pivotal role in exploiting synergies across all group companies. Identified synergies include offering unique and tailored logistics services across all major European countries, unifying customer access and key account management, establishing a fully-interoperable, seamless and efficient pan-European transport network benefiting from high overall utilization, increasing cost-efficiency through group sourcing and shared services and a creating financial transparency with a common performance management system.

“In recent weeks Nexia´s management has been extremely helpful in providing access to due diligence information and we value their support in ensuring a successful integration of Ebrex France as the second pillar of DKTrans´ pan-European operations going forward”, conclude Jan Ebus and Constantin G. Papadimitriou, Presidents of DKTrans.

The group’s present geographic diversification (France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy) ensures minimal overlap in transport/warehouse network and customer base but maximizes customer benefits through an integrated logistics service positioning.

“Having acquired the former Nexia organization represents a unique opportunity to internationalize and expand its operations in the European arena, with a strong presence in France, and at the same time enables us to distribute our customers´ goods arriving at Rotterdam and Amsterdam seaports directly to the supermarket consumer”, says Paul Hoppenbrouwers, President of Ebrex France.

“We have tracked the developments of key value drivers in the food logistics sector over the past years and view this segment as less crowded among Private Equity investors, given the availability of target companies at reasonable valuations but with significant consolidation and operational improvement potential”, adds Benjamin Herrmann, Vice President Business Development at DKTrans.
For DKTrans this is the beginning of a long-term engagement aimed at strengthening its pan-European network of logistics services, and sets the group on a path towards further expansion, mainly in Eastern and Northern Europe.

DKTrans was advised by law firm of Poulain & Associes, Paris.

Ebrex Holding

Since its foundation in 1985, the Ebrex company has seen healthy growth and has become the leading logistics company in the fruit and vegetable sector in the world’s largest port of Rotterdam and a major logistics company in the dry cargo sector. As an all-round, highly diversified, independent logistics company, Ebrex offers the required facilities and know how for all kinds of products, whatever their characteristics are.
Often the key to success in international trade depends on finding the right company to work with, sharing the same philosophy and interests. The group´s philosophy has always been to be the extension of the producer or exporter, so that they regard Ebrex as their warehouse and allow them to act as their “eyes” for the European continent. Ebrex is the extension of the supplier and recipient, offering a dedicated tailor-made package that incorporates all the required services.
Ebrex’s offices in the Netherlands are located in the port of Rotterdam, at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, at the flower auctions in Aalsmeer and Honselersdijk, in Tilburg, Waalwijk and Barendrecht.
Outside the Netherlands, Ebrex offices are found in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Poland, Ireland and South Africa. The company seeks further expansion of its European network to improve and extend the service to its clients.

Ebrex Holding BV
Westerlaan 1
3016 CK ROTTERDAM
The Netherlands

Contact for the Press:
Benjamin Herrmann
Director Business Development
Phone: +49 (700) 56644333
Fax: +49 (700) 56644222
media@symeqt.com

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This release was published on openPR.