The UK parcel delivery company Yodel has been snapped up by the Polish parcel locker firm InPost in a £106m deal that will create the third-largest independent delivery business serving online retailers in Britain.
InPost, which placed its first locker in Kraków in 2009, said the takeover would combine its drop-off and collection network with Yodel’s home delivery capabilities, “seamlessly integrating out-of-home and to-door solutions” under a single brand.
It follows a tumultuous period for Yodel, which was saved from collapse in February last year, but had to secure fresh funding from a new consortium of investors five months later after the deal soured. It had previously been owned by the Barclay brothers, the reclusive billionaire twins and former Daily Telegraph proprietors.
The GMB union welcomed InPost’s takeover of Yodel, which employs about 10,000 people. “Yodel has endured a tumultuous 12 months. GMB welcomes today’s news which will secure workers’ future for the long term,” its national lead organiser, Gill Ogilvie, said.
“The investment will help put Yodel back into the game as a leading competitor in the UK market and we look forward to a positive working relationship.”
The takeover will expand InPost’s footprint in the UK, taking its market share from 2% to 8%. It comes only months after the Polish operator completed a separate takeover of another UK logistics company, Menzies Distribution, in October last year.
It estimates the takeover will result in the combined business delivering more than 300m parcels in the UK a year, serving more than 700 online retailers. The deal also means that the UK will now make up about 30% of the group’s revenue.
“This acquisition marks a pivotal milestone in InPost’s journey to revolutionise the UK delivery market, as well as the group pan-European presence,” Rafał Brzoska, the founder and chief executive of InPost Group, said in a statement.
“We have just fast-forwarded five years of organic expansion in the UK and it is a clear reflection of our long-term commitment to this market, a market where we see enormous opportunity for growth. Our logistics model has transformed delivery in other European markets, and with this acquisition, we are now well positioned to do the same here.”
The deal will entail InPost acquiring 95.5% of Yodel’s parent company, Judge Logistics Ltd, in a debt-to-equity arrangement in which a loan worth £106m will be converted into equity shares. PayPoint will retain a minority 4.5% stake in JLL.
Once the deal is completed, the combined company will be the third-largest independent logistics business serving the UK e-commerce industry, behind Royal Mail and Evri – but excluding Amazon – InPost said.
It comes after the £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail’s parent company International Distribution Services by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, amid an industry shake-up fuelled by a boom in online shopping and parcel deliveries.
