Listen to the article

The French liner heavyweight CMA CGM has sealed the largest acquisition deal in its history by acquiring Bolloré Logistics for an enterprise value of 4.65 billion euros. The strategic deal should benefit the two family-owned conglomerates.

According to a company statement, The Bolloré Group has accepted the offer of the transport giant. However, the final step of the transaction will have to be submitted after “consulting employees’ representatives and securing the necessary regulatory approvals,” as indicated in the statement.

A win-win deal

For the ship-owner, the operation will consolidate its position as an international player in transport and logistics. The partnership between CMA CGM and Bolloré Logistics would represent a new global turnover of nearly 22 billion euros (24 billion dollars), only for the logistics branch of CMA CGM: the shipment volume would amount to more than 2 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) per year for sea transport and 0.8 million tons for air transport.

CMA CGM’s transport and logistics purchases have been on a constant rise. As such, the group has acquired the port terminals of Los Angeles, New York and 100% of the shares and assets of Gulftainer Lebanon, the operator that manages the terminal container of the port of Tripoli, as well as 9% of the capital of Air France-KLM and Eutelsat.

CMA CGM shared in a statement its wish to “significantly strengthen the Group’s logistics activity and place its subsidiary, CEVA Logistics, among the top five global companies.”

The ship-owner has also taken over the vehicle transporter Gefco and companies in e-commerce logistics, including 12% of Brittany Ferries company. Rodolphe Saadeh also bought the French regional daily newspaper La Provence. He owns 10% of the group M6, as well as shares in the online video media Brut. In 2022, CMA CGM generated a record net profit of over 23 billion euros, thereby beating all the CAC 40 groups.

On the other hand, with its 14,000 employees spread across 63 countries, Bolloré Logistics, led by Vincent and Cyrille Bolloré, is also a key international player in transport and logistics, especially in the sectors of luxury goods, health, as well as two sectors that CMA-CGM would like to develop: aeronautics and defense. Thanks to Bolloré Logistics’ experience, the CMA CGM Group will be able to expand its expertise in other sectors and allow the development of an exhaustive offer of transport and logistics solutions for their goods.

The recent deal with CMA CGM will allow the Bolloré group to focus its activities in the media sector under the name Vivendi, led by Yannick Bolloré. The Bolloré Group presently owns 25% of Vivendi (owner of Canal+, Havas and Editis) which constitutes today the majority shareholder of Lagardère.

Bolloré is also present in the areas of free press (Cnews), digital technology, telecoms with 4G licenses, in addition to the internet service provider Wifirst.

14,000 additional employees

Following this acquisition, the CMA CGM Group is expected to hire more than 14,000 new employees who will be working from 350 offices across 63 countries. The ship-owner has a stable presence in over 160 countries and boasts 155,000 employees.

The company’s warehouse capacities would likely increase by more than 900,000 m2, with 750 warehouses worldwide. The acquisition would also open up access to major logistics hubs, mostly in France and Asia.

CMA CGM and Bolloré Logistics: two family-owned conglomerates

Led by Rodolphe Saadeh since 2017, the CMA CGM Group was created in September 1978 by Rodolphe’s father, Jacques, nicknamed the “Lebanese of Marseille”. CMA started as a small-medium enterprise which carried out exchange activities. When the French government put the General Maritime Company (CGM) up for sale in 1996, Mr. Saadeh believed that he could turn this company around by partnering with CMA.

Almost 45 years later, CMA CGM is the third largest ship-owner in the world. The group serves more than 420 ports across 5 continents and boasts a fleet of 593 ships.

As for the Bolloré Group, created in 1822 by René-Guillaume Bolloré and Nicolas Le Marié, it ranks among the 500 largest global companies. It is known for its activities in three sectors: transport and logistics, communication, and electricity storage solutions. In 2022, its transport and logistics activities accounted for a turnover of 7.1 billion euros, and operations in nearly one hundred countries with 13,500 employees.

In December 2022, Bolloré sold its port activities in Africa for nearly 6 billion euros to the Italian-Swiss company MSC.