The logistics industry witnessed significant merger and acquisition activity in October 2024, with a clear geographical concentration in developed markets and a focus on technological integration and service expansion. The month’s activity reveals several key trends shaping the industry’s evolution and strategic priorities.
Europe and North America dominated the M&A landscape, collectively accounting for 86% of all acquisitions by target location. The United States led individual country activity with 39% of all acquisitions, highlighting the continuing consolidation in mature markets. This concentration suggests companies are prioritizing markets with established infrastructure and regulatory frameworks, possibly as a hedge against global economic uncertainty.
The month’s transactions reveal two dominant themes: expansion of logistics capabilities (31% of deals) and technology integration (19% of deals). This dual focus reflects the industry’s push toward digitalization while maintaining strategic physical assets. Transportation and freight forwarding each represented 11% of acquisitions, indicating continued interest in traditional sector consolidation.
The month’s largest disclosed transaction was MSC’s $768 million acquisition of a majority stake in Brazilian port operator Wilson Sons, representing a significant push into Latin American infrastructure. This deal, along with Descartes’ $110 million acquisition of Sellercloud and InPost’s £60.4 million purchase of Menzies Distribution’s remaining stake, highlights the variety of strategic approaches being pursued.
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Several clear patterns emerge from October’s M&A activity:
Healthcare Logistics Expansion: Nippon Express’s acquisition of Simon Hegele Group stands out as a strategic move into specialized healthcare logistics, reflecting growing interest in high-value, specialized logistics services. The target’s growth from €200M to €300M in revenue over five years demonstrates the sector’s attractive economics.
Technology Integration: Multiple deals focused on enhancing digital capabilities, exemplified by Sage’s acquisition of Anvyl and Accenture’s purchases of Joshua Tree Group and Camelot Management Consultants. These moves reflect the industry’s push toward AI-driven solutions and digital transformation.
Geographic Expansion: Companies are using M&A to establish or strengthen regional presences, as seen in Röhlig Logistics’ expansion in Ireland and Logwin’s strengthening of its Scandinavian position through the Infranordic acquisition.
The M&A activity suggests a maturing industry that is simultaneously consolidating traditional operations while preparing for a technology-driven future. The focus on software and digital capabilities, combined with strategic geographic expansion, indicates that companies are building more resilient and technologically advanced supply chain networks.
The consistent flow of deals across various subsectors also suggests strong underlying confidence in the industry’s future, despite global economic uncertainties. The emphasis on specialized services, particularly in healthcare logistics, points to a growing trend of vertical specialization within the broader logistics sector.
The robust M&A activity in October 2024 suggests continuing consolidation in the logistics and supply chain sector, with an increasing emphasis on technological capabilities and specialized services. The industry appears to be evolving toward a model where scale, technological sophistication, and specialized expertise are key competitive advantages. This trend is likely to continue as companies seek to build more resilient and efficient supply chain networks in response to evolving global trade patterns and customer expectations.
Just last month DSV made a major move by signing an agreement to acquire Schenker from Deutsche Bahn for €14.3bn. With this deal, DSV is set to become the largest global freight forwarder, with €21bn in freight forwarding revenue, capturing an 11.1% global market share – putting it ahead of competitors like K+N and DHL.
In some major markets, DSV will become the leading freight forwarder, whereas in others, it increases its market share significantly. In France, for example, DSV ranks behind DHL Global Forwarding and Kuehne + Nagel in terms of freight forwarding revenues (pre-acquisition), but the additional forwarding business of Schenker in France will position the combined entity ahead of both businesses. It will double its freight forwarding market share in France from 4.0% to 7.9% (based on revenues).
As part of its Consultancy services, Transport Intelligence has provided critical and verifiable market share data to M&A and legal clients as part of data submissions to competition authorities. This data, covering freight forwarding, contract logistics and road freight, includes revenue and market share data for a number of jurisdiction across Europe, Asia and North America.
Ti Consulting continues to play an important role in logistics M&A through accurate market intelligence. Find out more: https://ti-insight.com/ti-consultancy-ma/
Source: Ti Insight
Author: Paul Chapman
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