French government backed logistics firm GeoPost plans to acquire a majority stake in DTDC Express. Geopost, which already owns 42% stake in DTDC, is in intial stages of discussions to buy another 20-25% stake in DTDC, valuing the company at Rs 3000 crore ($450 mn), said two people aware of the development.
In 2013, Geopost had acquired 40% stake in DTDC from investor Reliance Equity Advisors, the private equity arm of Reliance Capital, for $25 million and it increased the stake further.
The parcel delivery network of GeoPost, DPD Group is the second largest international parcel delivery network in Europe with a revenue of €7.3 billion in 2018.
ICICI Securities is advising the DTDC management on the sale process while GeoPost is advised by BNP Paribas.
However, it is not sure if a deal will be materialsied between DTDC and GeoPost as the French major has differences over the expected valuation of DTDC, said one of the persons cited above. DTDC is also considering an option to launch an IPO, he added.
Subhasish Chakraborty, chairman and managing director of DTDC, declined to comment, saying the information is speculative, while a mail sent to GeoPost did not elicit any response till the press time.
Bengaluru-based DTDC Express is the country’s second largest end-to-end logistics company with a presence in 14 countries operating via 10,500 franchisees.
Established in 1990 by Subhasish Chakraborty, DTDC logistics service include courier and cargo services, e-commerce delivery, surface cargo, retail services, international express distribution services and third-party logistics. The company handles over 12 million shipments every month, delivering an average of 4 lakh parcels every day.
DTDC has posted a revenue of Rs 968 crore in FY18 while its counterpart Blue DartNSE -0.79 % posted a revenue of Rs 2,800 crore in FY 18.
Blue Dart’s FY19 revenue stood at Rs 3,174 crore. Blue Dart, country’s largest parcel delivery network, has an m-cap of Rs 5,817 crore as on October 1.
Source: Economic Times